Office of Global Affairs Update

The Office of Global Affairs is mindful that students hoping to study abroad in the spring need advance warning to make arrangements for travel, accommodations, and the academic aspects of their programs. With this in mind, we have developed a timeline for assessing the viability of each of our study abroad programs.

We will evaluate:

• Programs with a January start date on October 1^st.
• Program with a February start date on November 2^nd.
• Programs with a March start date on December 1^st.
• Programs with an April start date on January 4^th. 

The program will be allowed to run if, on the date of evaluation:

• The UNC system’s restriction on international has been lifted -and-
• The CDC health travel advisory level is below 3.

Please be aware of the evaluation criteria and the timeline noted above. If your program is cancelled you will be refunded your program fees, however ECU cannot reimburse you for any personal expenses you have incurred. As Global Affairs has advised previously, we encourage you to register for ECU classes this spring and we discourage you from incurring any non-refundable personal expenses toward your program in case your program is cancelled.

Currently, there remain a host of travel restrictions, alerts and warnings at the federal level and at the UNC system level due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of Global Affairs continues to monitor these restrictions closely. As per university policy on international travel by students (REG02.30.01), education abroad programs will not be allowed to run if there exists a CDC Level 3 health travel advisory for the destination country. In addition, according to UNC system guidance, all university-related international travel is currently restricted.

-Jon Rezek, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs