Guidelines for Procurement Process for Education Abroad Programs

Effective March 17, 2014; Updated November 6, 2025

Procurement Services, in partnership with the Provost’s Office, offers a streamlined process for routing contracts and invoices related to education abroad programs for students. These guidelines apply to U-M sponsored education abroad vendor service agreements and expenses incurred for:

• Programs that yield in-residence academic credit and are managed by a U-M unit.
• Programs that yield transfer credit and are managed by a U-M unit.
• Academic or co-curricular abroad programs/projects led by one or more U-M faculty or staff members.
• Student-led co-curricular experiences that are managed by a U-M unit.
• Student-led co-curricular experiences that are financially sponsored by a U-M unit.
• U-M faculty or staff expenses related to education abroad programs/projects for students.

This business process is designed to:

1. Reduce payment processing time for academic units.
2. Guide units in identifying potential risks associated with education abroad.
3. Document that the unit-level approver understands and accepts the risks.
4. Align program design with U-M SPG 601.31 on international travel.
5. Accommodate both advanced payment agreements and invoice/point of payment transactions.
6. Record transactions to create campus-wide reports on programs/partnerships and inform strategic planning for global education.

Departments must follow these steps for education abroad vendor service agreements and/or payment of expenses incurred:

1. Route all education abroad vendor goods/services agreements (with the exception of those itemized under Section 3, below) directly to Procurement Services using the Contract Request Form, with the addition of the Education Abroad Procurement Supplemental Form that documents sponsoring unit responsibility for:
   • a) Reviewing and selecting education abroad partners/providers/host organizations and following best practices in education abroad program management, student health and safety, and onsite program/facility reviews.
   • b) Certifying compliance with U-M SPG 601.31 on international travel, including U-M travel warnings/restrictions, travel registration, and travel abroad health insurance.
   • c) Identifying and assuming potential financial risks for the sponsoring U-M unit.
   • d) Identifying the data that will be shared between U-M and the partner and the purposes of sharing such data to aid in the development of a data protection agreement and processes.

   Sponsoring U-M units must translate agreements into English before submitting them to Procurement Services. Translations may be completed by U-M faculty, U-M staff, or professional translators.  Full translations are required due to audit requirements.

   Only one University-level signature (Procurement Services) is needed for these agreements. Procurement Services is the only authority that is needed to approve and sign these agreements if items a-d (above) are completed.

   Upon execution of the agreement, the unit should process payment(s) to the supplier in accordance with University policy.

2. When an agreement does not exist and the Department has received an invoice from the vendor, the Department will create an ePro requisition, attach the necessary documentation (i.e., invoice, itemization of costs, and the supplemental form) and select the appropriate buyer in Procurement Services. Procurement Services will then approve the requisition and the Department will submit the invoice to the Shared Services Center for processing. Sponsoring U-M units must translate invoices into English before submitting them to the Shared Services Center. Translations may be completed by U-M faculty, U-M staff or professional translators. Full translations are required due to audit requirements.
3. The Office of General Counsel will review educational agreements that focus on tuition-based student exchange, Consortium Agreements, Affiliation Agreements, Institutional Memberships, and other Memoranda of Understanding. The Vice Provost for Engaged Learning will sign such agreements on behalf of the Regents. See https://global.umich.edu/international-collaborations/. If these types of Agreements result in payment(s) to a supplier, the department should create an ePro requisition, attach the fully executed Agreement along with any other documentation (i.e. invoice, supplemental form) and select the appropriate buyer in Procurement Services. Procurement Services will then approve the requisition and the Department will submit the invoice to the Shared Services Center for processing.
4. The Provost’s Office Global Engagement Team is the initial contact point for new programs, policies, advice, and questions related to education abroad agreements (international-agreements@umich.edu). Consultation with the Global Engagement Team is encouraged but not required for education abroad vendor goods and services agreements.