Graduate Student Travel Policy
Graduate & Professional Student International Travel Policy
This policy applies to travel with Harvard sponsorship and has been adopted by each of the graduate and professional Schools. Travel with Harvard sponsorship is travel or related activities involving academic work qualifying for Harvard credit, funded in whole or in part by Harvard, or organized or accompanied by a Harvard faculty or staff member acting in a Harvard capacity. Contact your School’s official if you have questions about this policy or your School-specific requirements.
Harvard University is committed to the safety of our students, wherever their intellectual pursuits may lead them. Physical safety is a necessary premise to Harvard’s core values of “free expression, free inquiry, intellectual honesty, respect for the dignity of others, and openness to constructive change.” (University-Wide Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, adopted by the Governing Boards in 1970 and affirmed in 1977.) Harvard provides many resources to student travelers, some of which are described below. You’re expected to use those resources and others to make prudent, independent judgments about your safety and to take reasonable precautions, based on a thorough and honest assessment of the risks at your destination. When travel is Harvard-sponsored as defined above, the University has a special interest in overseeing your safety.
Global Support Services maintains travel risk ratings for high-risk, elevated-risk, moderate-risk, and low-risk countries and regions. These categories of countries and regions are the destinations directly affected by this policy. The risk rating lists are reviewed and updated twice annually and as needed based on world events.