High Risk Educational Travel Policy
UK’s international education travel policy states that undergraduate, graduate, professional students, and GME residents are not eligible to travel to high-risk destinations without first completing a mandatory review process and receiving formal approval from the Associate Vice President for Global Engagement before departure. Approval is required for any country or region for which:
- The U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 3 (Reconsider Travel) or Level 4 (Do Not Travel) Advisory; or,
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 (Reconsider Nonessential Travel) or Level 4 (Avoid All Travel) Health Notice; or,
- The University of Kentucky has internally issued a high-risk travel designation.
Depending on the nature of a student or resident’s intended travel, the mandatory review process may entail the preparation of appeal documentation and/or an in-person meeting with the University’s International Health, Safety & Security (IHSS) Committee.
This policy applies to all students at the University, for all travel explicitly endorsed by UK, whether for credit or not.
For more information on this policy and process, please contact Director of Global Risk & Strategic Operations Jason Hope at jasonhope@uky.edu.
Travel Registration Policy
Per UK’s international education travel policy, all students engaged in international education travel for non-credit bearing purposes, including graduate and professional students traveling on behalf of their departments, must register in the UK International Center’s student travel registry.
Per BPM E-5-1: Reimbursement of Travel Expenses, all UK employees traveling internationally or to U.S. territories for a UK business purpose must register their travel in the UK International Center’s employee travel registry. Activities that must be registered include but are not limited to official University business, conference attendance/presentations, research, community service, and sabbaticals.
Clery Act Policy
In certain circumstances, faculty or staff traveling abroad with students must be trained as Campus Security Authorities before departure, per UK Administrative Regulation 6:7. Campus Security Authorities are required to complete the Campus Security Authority training online, and to report certain crimes and situations of which they become aware to the UK office of Crisis Management and Preparedness.
The following are those situations in which faculty or staff members must be trained as Campus Security Authorities:
- When faculty or staff are leading an Education Abroad program for academic credit, with graduate and/or undergraduate students.
- When faculty or staff are leading a group of non-credit student travelers (graduate and/or undergraduate). In this instance, "leading" is defined as having primary responsibility for selecting the destination, selecting/inviting the students, guiding the logistical arrangements, advising the students during the trip, and/or serving as the UK representative for those students during the off-campus experience.
- When faculty or staff are leading a single student abroad, whether graduate or undergraduate, and whether for credit or not. See above for the definition of "leading."
Questions regarding Campus Security Authority training, or general questions related to the Clery Act should be directed to Clery Compliance Coordinator Veronda Holcombe Lewis at veronda.lewis@uky.edu.
Travel Reimbursement
UK Travel Services works with UK employees seeking reimbursement for international travel. More information on the reimbursement process can be accessed at this link.
UK's full travel expense reimbursement policy can be found here.
Driving Abroad
Regular UK employees should submit their Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) form to UK Risk Management before renting a vehicle abroad. This form only needs to be submitted once during an individual’s employment at UK, so it does not need to be resubmitted for each trip.
Graduate students with a UK employment status are permitted to rent vehicles abroad using UK funds if they are traveling for a purpose relevant to their work at UK.
Undergraduate students are not permitted to rent vehicles abroad using UK funds or under the UK contract.
Additional insurance offered on rentals outside the US and Canada is recommended and is a reimbursable expense.