Global Field Experience

In keeping with the CDC’s recommendation to avoid nonessential travel and Rice’s guidance against domestic and international travel, Rice Business made the decision to cancel all school-sponsored travel, in the fall of 2020 such as career treks (Week on Wall Street, Seattle, Silicon Valley) and the travel component of international academic courses. This included Global Field Experiences and Global Offsite Electives.

As we move into the Spring semester there remain many uncertainties related to international travel and how we will work with our partnerships across the globe. While we have made the difficult decision to cancel the travel component of the 2021 GFE, the courses will continue as scheduled through a virtual platform. Many components of these courses take 7-9 months of pre-planning and the majority of our international partners do not feel comfortable moving forward at this time. That being said, we have not made the decision to cancel university sponsored travel for the spring as a whole. We will continue to evaluate and monitor opportunities outside the GFE to offer our students.

Rice Business relied on many entities to make this decision, including the CDC, International SOS (ISOS) and U.S. Department of State, Rice University Crisis Management Advisory Committee and student leadership. The considerations include exit and entry bans for many countries, quarantine requirements and strained health systems. Our number one priority is the health and safety of our students, staff, faculty, our international partners and our community at large. We will continue to monitor the global pandemic and state of affairs and will re-evaluate new university sponsored travel opportunities as things develop into the spring semester.