TERI SIMAS PRIME PROGRAM MANAGER APRIL 2012
PRIME Students Contacts Expenses Covered by Program Passports, Visas, Immunizations, Health Insurance Student Agreement Target Travel Dates Financial Aspects Currencies Communications Social Components Progress Reports PRAGMA Grid User Account Cultural Awareness and IDI Assessments Former PRIME Student Contacts Upcoming Dates and Information to Remember
Round trip airline ticket Lodging Food Some miscellaneous expenses
US Passports Need to be valid for at least 6 months after you return (for visas) In some cases longer Other Passports Permanent residents need to look into the requirements regarding validity for visas If you require a visa for PRIME related travel OR for post-prime related travel, please start working on this now, ESPECIALLY if you are a NON-US Passport holder!!!
You are responsible for obtaining visas for travel. See: http://travel.state.gov/ for information and PLEASE work with host site staff to determine which type of visa is needed. I will request Letters of Invitation from your hosts and tentative itineraries needed for some of your visa applications. Australia Please apply for a Working Holiday Visa See: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/ Taiwan Yes, you need one since you will be staying more than 30 days Can obtain it in Taiwan?
Japan No visa required New Zealand No visa required for visits less than 3 months for US citizens eligible for a visa waiver Malaysia No visa required for visits less than 3 months for US citizens but USM staff will arrange for a student visa upon arrival
Malaysia recommended Hepatitis A (with a 6 month booster). This is also recommended for those traveling to China post-prime. Bring mosquito repellent! Health insurance is your responsibility. Please make sure your health insurance is valid abroad before departure. Prescription medications in original bottle with a 3 month supply on hand Other drugs just say NO!
Background What is this? Why do we have this? Specifics: The document is the definitive statement 1) Voluntary participation 2) Academic program (not a vacation!) 3) Conditions of involvement (4 hours per week in Spring; 35 hours/week during summer) 4) Responsibility to AIP: If you don t do this, no pass 5) Changes to PRIME: Conditions can change the program not responsible
6) Health Statement 7) Health Insurance 8) Authorization for Emergency Medical Treatment or Surgery 9) Emergency Contact(s) 10) Information Release
11) Pre-departure responsibility 12) Passport and visas 13) Individual Safety and Welfare 14) Codes of Conduct: You are a representative of UCSD & the US 15) Breach of Agreement: You may be suspended 16) Examples of Breach of Agreement 17) Referral for Student Disciplinary Action 18) Departure from Program (if you whatever reason you can t complete the program, you may have to leave the PRIME apartment and pay the program back)
19) Program publicity 20) Acknowledgement and acceptance of risk 21) Release, Hold Harmless and Covenant Not to Sue: UCSD and Host Sites 19) Severability 20) Entire Agreement and Modification 21) Governing Law 22) Independent Analysis and Binding Authority 23) Assurances and Consent The Agreement must be signed and returned to Teri Simas
Tentatively targeting between June 20-27, depending on host site and flight availability. Those going to TFRI will begin your internships on site on 6/22/12 We want to send people at the same time to also accommodate our host sites If you want to depart from an airport other than Lindbergh Field, please let me know via email If you want to stay longer than 9 weeks to do some traveling, please also let me know via email You are required to submit information by email regarding you departure city and travel return dates to me by April 16th
We will deposit funds into your accounts prior to departure Disbursements Direct deposit is required. Please note that payroll direct deposit is not the same as disbursements direct deposit. Employment status If you are currently employed with the University, please advise When to exchange cash? You can exchange some before you leave or wait until you arrive at your respective airports Doshisha and Malaysia bound students There is extra host institution paperwork that must be completed and returned to me within the next week or so Malaysia bound students
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic 1 US Dollar = 0.97004 Australian Dollar 1.00 Australian Dollar (AUD) = 1.02984 US Dollar (USD) 1 US Dollar = 6.28500 Chinese Yuan Renminbi 1 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY) = 0.15785 US Dollar (USD) 1 US Dollar = 81.58 Japanese Yen 1 Japanese Yen (JPY) = 0.01224 US Dollar (USD) 1 US Dollar = 3.06600 Malaysian Ringgit 1 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) = 00.32610 US Dollar (USD) 1 US Dollar = 1.21945 New Zealand Dollar 1 New Zealand Dollar (NZD) = 0.81894 US Dollar (USD) 1 US Dollar = 29.5180 Taiwan Dollar 1 Taiwan Dollar (TWD) = 0.03384 US Dollar (USD) These calculations were performed on April 8, 2012
Telephone costs are your responsibility Cell Phones Except for Japan, a gsm phone works you buy card (Japan can help via program) Voice over IP Skype (http://skype.com) Need microphone and speakers Skype out (~2 cents per minute) Skype with webcam Others Video Teleconferencing (VTC) Email please make sure to read and respond to correspondence regarding PRIME activities. The PRIME email address is: ucsdprime@gmail.com
Nice to bring small present for hosts Dress code Bring one nice outfit Take lots of pictures and forward your best photos to us! Keep your passport with you at all times! Please make sure to take your laptop Who is taking a camera and/or a video camera? We are interested in having you capture components of your research and cultural experiences for a video on the program.
Progress reports are required every Wednesday and will be posted on the web. You will need to send them to me/anafrancesca Comunale at ucsdprime@gmail.com with a cc to your advisors. A final report will be due at the end of the summer. Cultural surveys must be completed on a weekly basis (more to follow on this!) We all LOVE to receive photos and hear news of what you are doing!
Please check with your foreign advisor before taking action on requesting a grid user account. For those requiring a PRAGMA Grid account, please email Cindy Zheng (zhengc@sdsc.edu) BY April 27, 2012. She will schedule a technical session if needed. Please advise her of your availability and keep in mind that this session will last approximately one hour.
We will be asking you to fill out a weekly questionnaire on-line (these are fun and simple, but require a bit of thought). Please by honest with your answers so that we can help you out as needed and help future generations of PRIME students! You will also be requested to complete Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Assessments, with the first due in early May 2012. You will receive an email with additional information and complete instructions within the next few days. We will be implementing a new activity to interact with students in Japan. Jim Galvin, International Center, will present more details about this activity at the Pre-Departure Meeting next month.
Date Required To-Do Item Who needs this? 4/15/12 Departure, Location and return dates Teri Simas Today Direct Deposit Forms Teri Simas Today Campus employment status and payroll supervisor contact info Teri Simas Today Passport for those requiring visas Teri Simas Today Signed student agreement Teri Simas 4/27/12 PRAGMA User Account Cindy Zheng 5/19/12 REQUIRED Attendance at pre-departure meeting All students 6/1/12 Health Insurance & prescriptions Traveler s responsibility 6/8/12 AIP Forms and Learning Agreements Tricia Taylor TBD REQUIRED Attendance at re-entry meeting All students 9/6/12 AIP Research Paper & Evaluations Tricia Taylor
April 4th General Pre-departure Orientation for Selected Students Going Abroad in Summer or Fall 2012. Price Center Ballroom West. Check-in begins at 6pm and the event starts at 6:30pm. Hosted by UCSD s Programs Abroad Office (PAO). See: http://pao.ucsd.edu/pao/ for more information May 19th PRIME pre-departure orientation. Attendance at this meeting is REQUIRED. Time and location TBD. Date TBD Cultural Awareness/Re-entry Meeting at Gabriele Wienhausen s home. Attendance at this meeting is also REQUIRED. Non-attendance could effect your final AIP grade. Academic unit (1 unit) and campus fees will be waived again this summer. Even though you will likely receive an invoice for these charges, please do not pay these fees. They will be taken care of!
If you have a profile, webpage/blog on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or on any other website or social media site now is the time to clean it up if there are items posted that you don t want to share with the world! http://www.cio.com/article/print/449094
Don t forget to have fun!