Faculty-Led Program Proposals

Please review all the information on this page before submitting your education abroad proposal.

The information here addresses the deadlines and training requirements the faculty must know, as well as provides valuable links to information about how the Education Abroad Office evaluates proposals.

There is one deadline option for calendar year 2026 program proposals. 

  • Deadline: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 5 p.m.

Education abroad program proposals for calendar year 2026 must be submitted to the Education Abroad Office (EAO) by the deadlines posted above. Proposals must be approved by your academic college before they are submitted to the EAO. We highly encourage faculty planning to propose to notify their department chairs/colleges early on due to the college vetting processes.

Faculty-Led Proposal Guide

 

Please scroll down to see the link to the proposal form, resources, examples, templates, FAQs, and all required documentation to submit with the proposal. 

The Proposal Process

Below is a link to the faculty-led program proposal form, as well as a variety valuable resources to review to ensure the development of a high-quality faculty-led program proposal.

Kennesaw State University's education abroad proposal process is entirely electronic. Fill out the form linked below completely to submit a faculty-led program proposal to the Education Abroad Faculty Standing Committee for review. The form contains detailed instructions for each section.

After you submit your proposal, if your forgot to include information in your initial submission or you are required to submit additional information to EAO after your proposal has been reviewed, please send the information to EAOproposals@kennesaw.edu.

Education Abroad Faculty-Led Proposal Form

Program Proposal Documents & Other Resources

See below for a listing of program proposal and sample documents that can serve as examples for when you build your own proposal. 

The Proposal Review Process

Once you have submitted your faculty-led education abroad experience proposal, the Education Abroad Faculty Standing Committee will review it to determine whether it satisfies the requirements for a program.

This section describes the review process and provides details on the criteria the committee will use to evaluate submissions.

  • Prior to completing an education abroad faculty-led program proposal, be sure to obtain the proper departmental permissions. Your program must be approved by your department and college before the Education Abroad Faculty Standing Committee will review it.

  • The Education Abroad Faculty Standing Committee of the Faculty Senate will review all proposals submitted for approval. Program directors will be notified via email of the committee's decision.

    Proposal submissions will be reviewed using the nine key areas listed below:

    1. Aptitude
    2. Completeness of Proposal
    3. Detailed Itinerary and Budget
    4. Innovative Program Concept Design
    5. Diversity
    6. Safety/Risk Management
    7. Knowledge and Experience
    8. Previous Success
    9. Curricular Significance
    View Full Criteria Reference Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions faculty may face while organizing and submitting faculty-led program proposals.

 

Proposal & Program Planning

  • The ideal timeline for a faculty-led program often begins 3-6 months before the proposal is submitted. Faculty should take into account institutional needs, college-level priorities, ability to leverage international contacts, student audience, site visits, and programmatic components before submitting the proposal. 
  • It is a best practice and general institutional risk management expectation to complete a site visit before offering an education abroad program to a location that is new for a Faculty Director. We recommend you discuss site visit funding opportunities with your individual departments/colleges. Global Education will occasionally have limited discretionary site visit funding, but it is not always available and unfortunately cannot be relied on as an annual offering.
  • The education abroad proposal form is completed online. The form contains detailed instructions for each section. You can complete your proposal application in one sitting, or you can work on your application periodically, saving your work at the end of each session and logging back into the application to resume where you left off.  Formstack will not save attachments, so be sure to attach your signed documents when you are ready to submit your application.
  • A list of necessary documents and templates to assist in completing an education abroad faculty-led program proposal are included in the online proposal form. Proposal forms can also be found on the education abroad Propose a Program webpage under Program Proposal Documents and Resources.
  • Faculty directors must have their proposal reviewed and approved by their corresponding College Committee prior to proposal submission and approval. If an approving committee has not been identified prior to the proposal deadline, approval of the program's academic content should be acknowledged by faculty director’s immediate supervisor in the Faculty Director Responsibilities Agreement and College Approval Form. 
  • Yes, proposals are required for all faculty-led programs, including internships. However, faculty-led internships are exempt from the 55-program limit. USG consortium programs and programs that do not have a traditional education abroad program fee and utilize external funding sources to support their programs are exempt.

  • There are four main criteria for part-time faculty to participate on education abroad programs, as determined by the Board of Regents:

    • Part-time faculty cannot be the sole instructor of record; they can only serve as "Participating faculty"
    • In the role of participating faculty, they can only teach the equivalent of 2 credit hours (5.5 standard hours worked)
    • Additional hours for travel and course administration up to 19.25 standard hours per week is allowed.
    • The maximum number of hours a part-time faculty can teach, travel plus additional administrative duties while serving on a study abroad is 19.25 standard hours per week.
  • The Office of Fiscal Services (OFS) has mandated a minimum of three (3) vendor quotes for lodging as part of our reporting and compliance standards. This ensures institutional financial compliance. More information regarding education abroad financial processes can be found on our Finance Resources and Training page.
  • If you are unable to get an estimate from your vendors due to requesting this information so far in advance, please feel free to use available information including the previous year's quotes (if you previously ran a program) and add a contingency of 5-10% to that item to account for fluctuations in price. You may utilize quotes directly from the vendor, a travel agent, or a consolidated travel company such as Expedia, etc. 
  • Proposing Faculty will use the contact hours template sheet, located on the proposal documents webpage. Faculty should have one contact hours sheet (or tab within the same excel) per course. Per USG policy, 3 credit hour courses should have a minimum of 37.5 credit hours. Ask EAO for additional assistance if needed. 
  • For risk management reasons, it is preferred that two faculty or two “persons of authority” travel with students on an education abroad program in case of faculty illness or emergencies whereby the faculty director is unable to perform in their role. However, it is allowable if there are 15 or fewer students and the faculty member has a partner in the host country who will take on the responsibility of the students while the Faculty Director is otherwise engaged. This requires the Local Partner Support Agreement.
  • If you are a returning faculty member, you may contact your Program Coordinator from the previous year. New faculty may contact educationabroad@kennesaw.edu. 

Proposal Review Process

  • The deadline has changed to be consistent with best practices by other USG institutions. The University has made a number of policy and procedural changes that have a direct impact on how education abroad programs are administered. An earlier deadline allows for better internal controls so that compliance requirements are met and also provides more programmatic support. The deadline also increases program recruitment time for faculty, allowing programs to be more successful and provides students with greater access to education abroad programs by provider earlier notification of open applications.
  • The education abroad program proposal deadline is posted clearly on our website and within the proposal form. Once the deadline passes, we will immediately begin processing applications for committee review and are unable to accept late or incomplete applications. All programs that are late or incomplete will be asked to resubmit for the following calendar year.

  • In order to be considered complete proposals must include:

    • Faculty Director Responsibilities Agreement and College Approval Form – required for all programs; correct signatures are required.
    • Participating Faculty and Staff Agreement and College Approval Form – 1 per participating faculty or staff on an education abroad program; required for all programs with participating staff or faculty; correct signatures are required.
    • Local Partner Support Agreement Form – required only for programs with a single faculty director (i.e., no participating faculty)
    • Physical Assessment Form – required for all programs. The goal of this form is to ensure that students are well informed of what is required of them while on your program, so they can make an advanced decision regarding if this program is a good match for them, personally, in terms of physical requirements and conditions. Faculty are highly encouraged to provide detailed comments of physical activities and potential risks.
  • Additional documents can be sent to eaoproposals@kennesaw.edu prior to the deadline.
  • College leadership and/or international committee designees are asked to prioritize their college’s education abroad programs based on individual college priorities as well as the Criteria Reference Checklist, which was put in place in 2014 to review education abroad programs. The Education Abroad Faculty Standing Committee will further refine priorities based on this checklist and will send any additional feedback to the colleges. Colleges will submit prioritizations to the committee and the committee will deliberate based on the previously determined criteria. 
  • USG consortium programs, international internships, and programs that do not have a traditional education abroad program fee and utilize external funding sources to support their programs.

Additional Questions

  • We recommend starting an interest sheet and collecting the student names KSU ID, email, and phone number. Once the program is approved and the program page is live, you can begin contacting students and encourage them to submit their application.

  • We recommend many types of promotion, but have seen high success with face to face interaction. One of the most effective ways to recruit students is to present the program to various classes. You can view a promotion guide for faculty led programs below.

    promotion guide
  • A full list of internal and external study abroad scholarships are available on the KSU Education Abroad webpage. Students can apply to multiple scholarships, if eligible. In most cases federal student aid, grants, and scholarships can be used to cover tuition and costs associated with education abroad. Students are advised to contact their designated financial aid counselor for questions. 
  • Yes! The Education Abroad Office can recommend third-party companies who specialize in creating custom programs for Faculty Program Directors. They will work with you to create an itinerary that fits your academic goals, desired location, and budgetary needs. Many companies also offer additional on-the-ground support so that you can focus on teaching your students. Email educationabroad@kennesaw.edu for more information. 
  • Each Faculty Director will have a designated Business Operations Specialist who can answer questions related to Concur and your Travel Request. You can also view Concur How-To Guides and contact the KSU Travel Hotline at 470-578-4394.