UMass Boston

Faculty Resources and Planning a Course Abroad

Grand Scholarly Challenges(GSC): Global Programs & Honors College Faculty-Led Grant

We are excited to announce the GSC Grant has been awarded to Professor Miyuki Yamamoto for her program: Taste of Japan: Food Culture & Society. This innovative program will run in Summer 2025 in collaboration with Waseda University offers UMass Boston students opportunities to experience Japanese food & culture in a variety of settings, in elementary schools, food markets, farms, host families, a Buddist temple, and more across three cities in Japan.

The GSC faculty-led funding opportunity is for UMass Boston faculty interested in creating new faculty-led programs for students that have a focus on one or more of the UMass Boston Grand Scholarly Challeges. With the support of the Office of Global Programs and the Honors College at UMass Boston, we are happy to provide two (2) $10,000 funding awards for the development of two (2) new faculty-led programs in Summer 2025. For Summer 2026, we have awarded the grant to Dr. Da Hei Ku for her Early Childhood Education Program that will run to Seoul, South Korea at Seoul National University. More details will be announced shortly. 

Summer 2026: We have (1) $10,000 grant available for Summer 2026 and will be accepting applications starting in February 2025. More details can be found below.

The Office of Global Programs currently assists faculty in faculty-led program development, connections with partner universities and organizations, logistics, and potential locations. It is our goal to strategically increase short-term faculty-led programs for our students. To this end, we are sending out a call to the campus community for faculty-led program proposals for the Summer 2026, and beyond. We are excited to partner with the Honors College at UMass Boston to assist in funding these new program developments that will align with the University of Massachusetts Boston strategic plan 2022-2032, particularly with faculty-led programs that coincide with one or more of the Grand Scholarly Challenges.

The Office of Global Programs will dedicate $5,000 per program selected for new faculty-led international programs that will run in Summer 2026. The Honors College will dedicate a matching award of $5,000 per program for programs that will run in Summer 2026. We ask that the selected department, and/or college, commit a matching amount, or similar, if possible. This funding will go towards overall program costs, to lower per-student costs. Our goal is to have each GSC have an associated faculty-led program by 2027. The selected programs will focus on one or more of the grand scholarly challenges and must be a high-impact program with a key focus on hands-on research and learning opportunities for students. The funding is intended to defray the per-student cost to attend the program, to make participation in these programs available to as many UMass Boston students as possible.  The Honors College will host the course section for the faculty-led programs, but the course itself will be open to all UMass Boston students to participate.

Please download the Grand Scholarly Challenges Faculty-Led Call & Application which includes many details about the call. The Office of Global Programs can assist faculty in finding partners abroad to work with based on their interests. Our team would be happy to meet with any interested faculty before applying to determine the best fit for partners and locations. If you have any questions or would like to meet with our faculty-led development team, please contact Brittany.Dhooge@umb.edu. Once the identified programs are approved, the Office of Global Programs and the Honors College will work with the faculty on the contracting, program development, brochure and application, recruitment, course registration, and logistics.

Please complete and submit the attached application form to Brittany.Dhooge@umb.edu.

Deadline for Proposals for Summer 2026 programs: July 18, 2025

Getting Started on a new faculty-led program:

Faculty submits a Faculty-Led Program Proposal typically more than 12 months in advance of the program start date in order to have all details finalized leaving ample room for student recruitment. Your initial application will require a proposal narrative and estimated budget sheet that has been signed and approved by the Chair of your department and Dean. A complete application will include a detailed program narrative, approved course syllabus, and confirmed budget sheet. An approved proposal is reviewed by the Office of Global Programs for final recommendations, and will require approval by UMass Boston Risk Management, and Export Control. Contracts with the providers or other organizations who provide services for faculty-led programs must be reviewed by UMass Office of General Counsel (OGC) and approved by UMass Office of the President Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST).

For any questions, please email studyabroad@umb.edu

The Process: 

  1. Meet with our office to determine what your goals and vision are for the program. Work with our office to identify potential providers who can provide logistical support and prepare cost quotes for the program.
  2. Once a provider is identified, submit the program proposal with preliminary budget from the provider along with the proposal narrative on the online applications for (new) Proposal or Repeat Program Proposal.
  3. The above proposal submission must include:
    • Proposal Narrative
    • Assisting Leader and/or third-party support identified with attached proposal
  4. Deadlines for new proposals is approximately 13.5 months prior to program start date: 
    • November 15 for winter or spring programs 1-year prior to program dates
    • April 15 for summer and fall programs 1-year prior to program dates
  5. Repeat study abroad programs can be accepted approximately 6 months prior to student application deadline:
    • May 1 of preceding year for winter and spring programs
    • October 1 of preceding year for summer or fall programs
  6. Once the initial proposal is accepted, for new proposals a syllabus/itinerary is created and sent for course approval through your department/college as well as General Education if intended to have Gen Ed distribution. We highly recommend having your course approved as a General Education requirement.
  7. Faculty-leaders acknowledge responsibility for logistical coordination, financial arrangements, student advising and support, recruitment as well as course development and instruction. UMass Boston Office of Global Programs (OGP) supports identifying and/or employing a professional study abroad provider organization to coordinate these functions, provide a back-up support network and enable the faculty leader to focus on robust content delivery. 
  8. Final study abroad proposal will require a signature by the Provost. 

Timeline for New Programs

14-13 months to program start
  • submission of new program proposal, including the proposal narrative and budget sheet proposal to the Office of Global Programs
  • Review of proposal by the Office of Global Programs and the ITRASE Committee
  • Provider/vendors identified by faculty with quotes and selection of provider in collaboration with OGP
  • Review by Risk Management, Export Control, and sent to Provost for final approval
12 months to program start
  • Syllabus gets sent for approval through department, college. Gen Ed courses sent for approval
  • Agreement and/or vendor creation between UMB and provider/partner university submitted to Ksenija Borojevic for review and approval by UPST
10 months to program start
  • Course(s) approved and added to course listings 
  • Detailed itinerary created
  • Marketing materials printed, website brochure page put up, applications open for students, faculty and OGP recruitment
9 months to program start
  • Faculty-Leader meetings with OGP for preparation 
  • Agreement signed and formalized- vendor creation 
3-6 months to program start
  • Faculty sends OGP interested students, OGP starts applications for students
  • Completed applications sent to faculty for review on rolling basis
  • Application deadline for students with $500 non-refundable (unless program is cancelled) deposit and are registered into the course in WISER by faculty-leader
2-3 months to program start
  • Final roster created of approved students
  • Students sign the agreement with third part (with schedule of payments and refunds)
  • Final payment deadline for program to third part typically 60-90 days out
  • Payment made to vendor for logistics/group flights (if applicable)
1 month to program start
  • Pre-departure orientation and program specific orientation