Resources for Faculty & Staff
Foreign Program Administration: Before You Leave
Program Director Responsibilities
The Program Director has much to do in the months before the program begins as there are many elements that go into creating a successful foreign study program. Below is a description of the key activities in which the Program Director will be involved before the program begins. Program Directors who are taking programs to the UW Rome Center should also see the Rome Center Guide for additional assistance in the program planning process.
Creating Time Line
The Program Director will want to begin the planning process and develop a realistic timeline at least 12 months in advance. This timeline should map out all of the tasks that need to be completed to create a successful program, from the development of the program idea to the printing of brochures to last minute, before-departure details. The timeline requires some thought and should be followed closely.
Establishing Budget
The Program Director will want to work with the CAUP Fiscal Analyst to establish a budget for the program that sets the program price at a sort of happy medium: one that includes the important desired components but refrains from pricing students out of participation. He/she will also want to determine how many students need to enroll to fund the program. For example, if the overall program costs $80,000 and a reasonable program price for students is $4,000, the program will need to enroll 20 students to break even.
The Program Director should keep in mind that Financial Aid estimates that a "traditional student" (a resident undergraduate) spends approximately $5000/quarter to study at the UW. If the program price plus airfare matches this, it will be easier to recruit for the program.
The budget should include:
- Faculty and teaching assistant support (salary) if the department does not provide this support
- Faculty housing on-site
- Faculty airfare
- Faculty per diem (usually $25 per day)
- Instructional costs on-site (guest lectures, supplies, books, etc.)
- Student housing and board (full or partial)
- Excursions/entrance fees
- Site administration/Local Coordinator fee
- Program reserve (usually 10% to cover currency fluctuations and emergencies and to leave a small balance in the budget for future programs)
- On-campus administrative costs (brochures, advertising, long distance phone calls, etc.) including the CAUP Administrative Fee ($100/student)
A typical program budget does not include:
- Student travel to and from the program site
- Student spending money
- Student insurance
Determining Field Advance Allotments
A Field Advance is an amount of money used by the Program Director to meet program-related expenses on-site. It is the responsibility of the Program Director to account for these funds at the conclusion of the program. The Program Director will work with the Fiscal Analyst to determine what portion of the student fees can be spent before the program (by wire transfers to overseas vendors for housing or excursions), and what portion should be issued to the Program Director in the form of a Field Advance. All field advance requests should be submitted via the Fiscal Analyst one month prior to departure.
Considering Currency Fluctuation
The Program Director should determine if payments on-site will be made in foreign currency or dollars. If a substantial portion of the payments will be made in local currency, he/she will want to add an asterisk to the program price in the brochure that will allow for the price to rise (or fall) should exchange rates change beyond what can be covered out of the program reserve.
Creating Payment Schedule
Student payments are made to Student Fiscal Services. These funds are used to make payments to foreign vendors and/or provide funds to the Program Director in the form of a Field Advance. To ensure that the payments and Field Advance are paid on time, the Program Director should develop a written payment schedule, withdrawal policy, and refund policy. The Program Director should check the payment schedule and policies with the CAUP Fiscal Analyst before they are finalized. All of this information should then appear in the program brochure.
Program Brochure
The Program Director will want to design a program brochure to distribute to students via departmental advising offices, the IPE reference library, class visits and informational meetings. The program brochure will serve as the program’s publicity medium, course catalog and information and policy source. Consequently, it should include as much information as possible about the program: program focus, courses, credits, faculty, dates, location, payment schedule, deadlines, refund policy, contact names and addresses of the program coordinators. As the brochure designer, the Program Director should also remember that the brochure is often what students take home to show parents (i.e. potential funding sources).
The program brochure will need to be printed and ready to be dispersed at least 6 months prior to program departure. Most importantly, a draft of it should be sent to the CAUP Dean's Office for review before printing. This will help eliminate commonly made errors or discrepancies of information in an easy, cost-effective manner. When a version of the brochure has been finalized and printed, the Program Director should supply their department, the Dean's Office, and the IPE with a number of copies for their reference libraries.
Program Application: The Program Director should also develop a program application and in the process, determine what format to use, what kinds of applicant information to require and what deadlines to set. These are usually turned in to the Dean's Office five months prior to the start of the program. This ensures that there is both the information and the time to select and orient highly qualified candidates.
Orienting Students Before Departure
Program Orientation Meeting(s): Prior to departure, the Program Director will want to meet with the students several times. The first such meeting should include a general program overview and an introduction to the Program Director and his or her vision for the program.
The Program Director should be sure to discuss program-specific nuts and bolts issues like housing, travel, packing, etc., as well as to provide an orientation to the program, country and culture. He/she should be sure to clearly address insurance requirements and visa issues in one of these early meetings.
Mandatory General Orientation Meeting: UW policy requires that all students participating in study abroad programs attend a general orientation meeting before heading off on their programs and exchanges. Held on a quarterly basis, these orientation meetings are facilitated by representatives from the Foundation of International Understanding through Students and the IPE. They are designed to be thorough breakdowns of the administrative details and practicalities of the study abroad experience. Students attending these meetings will receive their concurrent enrollment and medical release forms, their study abroad packets and a host of information regarding registration and concurrent enrollment, health and safety, culture shock/reverse culture shock, financial aid and credit conversion. The meetings are mandatory and must be attended by all foreign study participants.
The general orientation meetings are essential to ensuring that the UW sends well-informed, well-prepared students abroad. Likewise, they are crucial to eliminating the glitches that come about when students leave U.S. borders, uninformed of UW policies and procedures. Program Directors will need to take special care in stressing to students the mandatory nature of the orientation meeting. They will also want to submit a roster of program participants to the Manager of Educational Outreach at FIUTS, best if submitted in an electronic Excel format. Detailed information of orientation dates, schedules and particulars can be found on the FIUTS website. Students who cannot attend orientation will need to make arrangements with the Manager of Educational Outreach at FIUTS. Program groups who are unable to attend will need to submit written reasoning for their absences to both the Manager of Educational Outreach at FIUTS and the Director of the IPE.
IPE Responsibilities
Collecting Concurrent Enrollment and Medical Forms / Enrolling Students
The IPE enrolls students who are studying on UW programs overseas via the Concurrent Enrollment process. Students who are concurrently enrolled retain their right to purchase UW Student Insurance, maintain their eligibility for Financial Aid, receive graded UW credit for their coursework, maintain their residency in the state of Washington, keep their access to UW student email, and retain their access to any UW student services. However, they lose their privileges to make use of the IMA, Hall Health and UW Libraries during the time period that they are concurrently enrolled. When concurrently enrolling, students should NOT enroll using MyUW. The IPE will enroll all participants in special Foreign Study course numbers: FSTDY 300, 301, 303 or 501, depending on their graduate or undergraduate status.
In addition to the Concurrent Enrollment form, IPE will collect a Medical Report form and will notify the Program Director if any student has a medical condition that could potentially affect the quality of his or her experience in the program. It is important to note that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, no student can be denied participation on the basis of information reported by a physician on the Medical Report form. The UW collects information about students' health solely to help the program provide them with necessary support.
Students remain enrolled in the FSTDY course during the program. At the conclusion of the quarter, the Program Director will assign the students their final grades, organize each student’s grade using the Credit and Grade Report form provided on the IPE website and then submit these forms to the credit advisor at the IPE. The IPE will process the forms and forward them on to Graduation & Academic Records where they will be recorded on the students’ official transcripts. The IPE will not, however, deal with any problems or discrepancies that arise after the grades have been submitted to Graduation & Academic Records. These problems will be solved through direct communication between the Department and Graduation & Academic Records.
Additional Information
International Programs & Exchanges
Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS)
While You Are Away
When You Return
Contacts
Trina Deines, Associate Dean of International Programs
deines@u.washington.edu
(206) 685-8455
Rachel Ward, Budget/Fiscal Analyst
wardrm@u.washington.edu
(206) 616-2440