Roles and Responsibilities for Pace University Travel Courses

Roles and Responsibilities for Pace University Travel Courses Revised 9-13-10

Pace University offers a range of short term international travel courses for academic credit that are usually between 1 – 4 weeks in length and are financially self-supporting. Both full and part-time students can participate.At least 1 full time faculty member and another person, either staff/TA/faculty must accompany all trips.

School responsibilities

1. Each school will assign a faculty or staff member to act as an international liaison assisting faculty in planning their travel course and preliminary budget and acting as a liaison with their faculty and the Office of International Programs and Services (OIPS)

1. Travel courses are proposed by faculty and approved by their Department Chair andAssociate Dean on the FacultyApplication for Conducting a Travel Courseform (available from the Study Abroad website under Travel Courses – forms for faculty). Planning should begin approximately 18 months prior to the proposed travel (18 months is to allow for students to plan financially and academically for international travel)

1. Each school will ensure

that each travel course has a minimum of 12 students enrolled

that each travel course has a full time faculty member participating

that each travel course has a group leader that has visited thedestination and/or knows the language and/or has contacts and recognizes the safety concerns of the destination

a faculty member will only participate in one travel course per year

exceptions to the above must be approved by the Dean or Associate Dean

1. Assess the needs of the program: does it fill a curricular need; is there a strong academic content; the advantages and disadvantages of the location(s); the potential enrollment (prerequisites, majors/non-majors, language, physical requirements). Are other schools/departments offering travel to the same location?

1. Asses the faculty member’s travel experience. Have they visited the location before, do they have contacts at the location (university, business, etc), are they able to recognize the safety concerns, advantages and disadvantages of the location?

1. Assist faculty in preparing a preliminarydetailed itinerary & preliminary budget (prepared on the Travel Course Budget Form) will accompany the faculty application for approval, taking into account all trip expenses.

1. The approved Faculty application along with the preliminary itinerary and budgetwill be submitted to the OIPSin a timely manner.

1. The department/school will make sure that the course is appropriately published in the class schedule with a travel course attribute and provides the approximate cost, dates of travel and cities/countries visiting and any special requirements.

1. Assist faculty and OIPS with the steps and issues involved from planning through final evaluation including academic, financial and safety issues.

Faculty responsibilities

1. Faculty will contact the OIPS to inform of the development of atravel course for an upcoming semester informing of course information, travel dates, travel destination, estimated cost.

1. Faculty will outline a detailed itinerary of their planned trip and detailed budget with the assistance of their schools international liaison.

1. Faculty will be responsible for contacting the travel agent and making all travel plans and keeping the travel itinerary within budget. A detailed itinerary of their plan must be submitted to the travel agent prior to the start of the course.

1. Faculty are required to know the geographic and academic area and be prepared to handle both with the Pace students, have sufficient experience in travel to recognize the safety concerns and advantages of the proposed destination.

1. Faculty will secure academic approval from theirDepartment Chair and Dean or Associate Dean to offer the travel course and produce a preliminary budget to be approved by the department and the OIPS. Faculty will continue to make adjustments to the budget as travel plans finalize.

1. Faculty and their department will be sure the travel course is appropriately published in the class schedule and listed with a Travel course attribute with proposed travel dates, costs and requirements.

1. Faculty MUST pay attention to financial, legal, safety issues and be emotionally and physically prepared to deal with the 24/7 presence of students and their concerns and needs.

1. Faculty will be responsible for notifying students of the student procedures and forms required for participating in a travel course, including all deadlines, academic requirements, payment procedures(Travel Course Student Payment Form), required forms (Travel Course Medical Information Form, Travel Course Waiver and Release Form)and copies of travel documents (passport, visa). Faculty will advise students where to obtain a passport and to learn about visa requirements

1. Faculty in cooperation with their department chair and the international office will determine within the first 2 weeks of the semester if there are enough students enrolled to run the travel portion.

1. Faculty will arrange 2 orientations in cooperation with the International office; one within the first 2 weeks of the semester and another 1-2 weeks before departure to discuss the travel course procedures, collect passport copies, waivers and medical forms. Faculty teaching online or hybrid courses will be responsible for notifying the students of the procedures and deadlines for the submission of travel documents and payments at the start of the class.

1. Faculty will inform the students of the travel itinerary and will have class meetings prior to departure to discuss what to expect while traveling, local conditions & customs, potential risks, cultural and culinary differences and packing advice. Faculty must discuss the country’s laws and group expectations regarding alcohol and other drug use. Faculty will discuss and direct students to visit the U.S. Dept. of State website and the “Country Specific Information”. Faculty will provide full travel itinerary to all participants.

1. Upon arrival at travel destination, faculty will meet with students to set up emergency procedures for use on site and discuss behavioral and academic expectations. Faculty will notify the OIPS of the safe arrival of the group.

1. Faculty will submit to OPIS final travel expense reimbursementform with receipts within 30 days of trip completion, adhering to the University guidelines for travel and expense reimbursement.

1. Faculty will submit a final trip report (approximately 1 page) to the OIPS within 30 days of trip completion.

OIPS responsibilities

1. The OIPS will offer a workshop for faculty, provide guidelines and travel vendor contact information to all faculty, collect approved applications for travel courses, assist with budget preparation, prepare flyers, update travel course website with course offerings, prepare and provide student guidelines and procedures.

1. The OIPS will monitor the US Department of State website for travel warnings/advisories.

1. The OIPS will register all travel groups with the US Department of State, Travel registration website.

1. The OIPS willmonitor the budget;track all revenue and expenses, collecting student fees, and processing payments to travel vendors and other related travel expenses including promotional & faculty expenses.

1. The OIPS will update faculty on student payments at regular intervals. Faculty will be notified of student non payment and student will be removed from the travel portion of the program for non-payment.

1. The OIPS will provide 2 pre departure orientations to the students, one at the beginning of the semester to collect documents and another shortly before departure.

1. The OIPS will collect student travel forms and documents, provide faculty with copies of travel documents and medical information and notify the Office of General Services to finalize medical travel insurance coverage.

1. The OIPS will send a list of student participants to the Dean of Students for their notification & approval.

1. The OIPS will assist with administrative tasks that include the preparation of publicity materials.

1. The OIPS will provide the faculty with emergency protocol procedures and the International Office staff will be available for contact with faculty during travel.

1. The OIPS will distribute student opinion surveys upon completion of the travel portion and then provide results to faculty, Deans & Associate Deans..

1. The OIPS will provide a final accounting of each travel course at the end of the fiscal year.