Last year, the International travel policy was updated. This process resulted in an integrated document that ensures that all parties involved within VU Amsterdam are well informed about their responsibilities and the procedures that must be followed. The policy applies to both VU Amsterdam students and employees. External parties are also covered by the travel policy.
The aim of the update was to ensure that VU Amsterdam continues to fulfil its duty of care by mitigating foreseeable risks and threats, and by fostering a culture within VU Amsterdam in which health and safety risks associated with travel are taken seriously.
The document is based on existing policy. The key principles are:
- Travel to areas with an orange or red travel advisory is not permitted in the context of study or work/research for either students or employees.
- In certain circumstances, employees may be granted an exception for travel to orange areas. Requests for permission to travel to orange areas are submitted to the travel policy committee, which provides advice to the Faculty Board. The Faculty Board makes the final decision.
- The travel policy committee can be contacted at internationaltravelpolicy@vu.nl for general advice or to request an exception for travelling to an orange area by employees.
All information about the travel policy, as well as documents for employees and students, can be found on VU.nl.
Questions about the VU travel policy
For questions, general information or advice for employees about travel to orange areas, please email internationaltravelpolicy@vu.nl.
Travel Protocol Knowledge Security
Once it has been determined whether travel to a particular country is possible, knowledge security risks during the trip must also be taken into account. These may include unauthorised data transfer, monitoring of data carriers and physical security risks. To enable appropriate measures to be taken, countries have been classified into different risk categories based on a risk assessment. Special travel devices are available for travel to countries with a high or very high risk.
The full Travel Protocol Knowledge Security and the classification of risk categories can be found on the Knowledge security for VU employees. If you have any questions or are unsure about the applicable requirements, you can also contact the knowledge security contact person within your own faculty or division.