Travel guidance for providers managing education or work placements overseas
Published 31 March 2022
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/travel-guidance-for-education-or-work-placements-overseas/travel-guidance-for-providers-managing-education-or-work-placements-overseas
This guidance is for providers. Guidance for participants is also available.
All education providers managing mobility in education should follow the relevant Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice:
They should highlight this to their participants, being aware that the situation can change rapidly.
All education providers should also ensure mobilities are safe for the students involved and keep usual safeguarding arrangements in place. Statutory safeguarding guidance to support the protection of children is available for:
All providers should:
- be flexible in their approach and conscious of the potentially rapidly changing situation on a country-by-country basis
- be ready to make quick changes to projects and mobilities
- consider delaying mobilities, and amend start and end dates as restrictions may change over time
- direct participants to information on the COVID-19 regulations in their destination country
- let participants know they need to be ready to comply with any local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements in their destination country
- let participants know they will need to rely on the local health system
Turing Scheme guidance for providers
It is likely that COVID-19 travel restrictions will continue to affect some international mobility, and therefore will affect planned Turing Scheme projects and participants during the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
We want as many mobilities as possible planned for the 2021 to 2022 academic year to go ahead, but also to ensure they are safe for the students involved. Usual safeguarding arrangements must remain in place, and mobilities must be in line with UK and relevant international travel guidance.
To reduce any financial burden on participants, you should consider, where appropriate, delaying the start of placements until later in the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
The Turing Scheme offers flexibility for placements to be delayed and destinations changed in order to allow activities to go ahead, provided they still deliver the outcomes set out in your successful bids.
FCDO advice
Turing Scheme placements cannot take place in countries where FCDO advises against travel, for whatever reason.
We do not consider travel under the Turing Scheme to be essential travel and any placements are therefore not exempt from this restriction.
The Turing Scheme will not release funding for participants who are travelling to a country against FCDO advice at the time of departure.
Where FCDO travel advice is not to travel to a country where Turing Scheme participants are already present, we expect providers to contact their participants and support them in returning to the UK or another safe place, bringing their placement to an end early if necessary.
There may be participants who have to return early due to a force majeure situation in their host country, but have incurred direct costs which are in excess of the cost of living they will receive for the actual period spent abroad. In these instances, participants can be funded for their actual receipted costs incurred up to the limit of their originally planned cost of living budget for the mobility on demonstration of appropriate evidence including that the costs could not be recovered elsewhere.
Hotel quarantine
We recommend you delay or rearrange placements in countries requiring hotel quarantine because:
- it would place a financial burden on participants
- it will not be possible to effectively safeguard participants within the restrictions of a quarantine hotel environment
Destination countries may set additional restrictions while participants are already there. Organisers must ensure their participants are aware of these and are still able to travel to undertake their placement and comply with all relevant advice and restrictions in their destination country.
Extra support for disadvantaged participants
In addition, we may be able to provide financial support for projects taking place during the 2021 to 2022 academic year. This extra support will provide for disadvantaged participants who incur additional costs as a result of COVID-19. It will allow providers to receive organisational support funding if a mobility needs to begin on a virtual basis, provided these placements become physical mobilities when it is possible and meet the minimum duration requirements for participants to undertake the placement.
This extra support for disadvantaged participants on placements during the 2021 to 2022 academic year may cover:
- hotel quarantine costs on placements lasting 90 days or more when travelling to a destination country for their placement
- hotel quarantine costs on return to the UK when their destination country has been red listed during their placement and they were not able to return ahead of the red listing taking effect
- costs incurred due to COVID-19 testing requirements, both when travelling to their destination country and on return to the UK, where necessary
- the retention of some remaining cost of living grant amounts for participants who have to return home early due to COVID-19 and have incurred necessary and unrecoverable costs
Details of this extra financial support and further guidance on managing the additional costs incurred as a result of COVID-19 are available on the Turing Scheme website.
Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps guidance for providers
As part of the Withdrawal Agreement, legacy activity agreed ahead of the end of the transition period involving UK-based students on Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) will continue. Therefore, Turing Scheme and Erasmus+ mobilities will both be in operation during the 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 academic years.
UK beneficiaries managing Erasmus+ and ESC mobilities should utilise any funding to the best of their ability. They must ensure participants remain as safe as possible and follow all relevant guidance, including existing statutory safeguarding guidance, relevant international travel guidance and advice related to their funding.
Follow the guidelines set out by the Erasmus+ National Agency and the European Commission.
Other exchange schemes
Regardless of how it is funded, providers of any international mobility in education should follow the relevant FCDO travel advice for the destination country.
They should highlight this to their participants but be aware that the situation could change.
Providers should ensure that participants are ready to comply with local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements, and will need to rely on the local health system.