Travel expenses

Please follow the process on Surrey Abroad relating to your mobility type if your international mobility needs to be registered with the International Engagement Office via the MoveOn platform.  

These mobility types include: 

• Study exchange
• Work placement
• Lab placement
• Summer opportunity or internship
• Recent graduate internship
• Vet EMS placement
• PGR work or research placement
• Health Sciences elective placement.

Each mobility type will have a specific process to follow and specific Risk Assessment for Travel Abroad to complete.  If you are not sure which process to follow, please contact ieo.outgoing@surrey.ac.uk who will be happy to advise. 

You should not book travel or make financial commitments until the following have been completed: 

• You have received confirmation from the International Engagement Office that your Risk Assessment has been received and is complete
• You have received your visa for your host destination (where applicable)
• You have registered with Travelcert for your Personal Accident and Travel Insurance cover. 

Egencia is a global leader in travel management, supporting over 2 million travellers annually with an unrivalled reputation.  

• One place to manage all aspects of your trips: on any device — desktop, mobile or over the phone
• Relevant travel options: A personalised booking experience with access to travel choices from the world’s largest travel platform
• Support when you need it: 24/7 support from expert travel agents and the Egencia Help Centre.

Learn more about Egencia in this video overview

While Egencia provides an intuitive and familiar booking experience, training will be offered to help maximise your knowledge of the site. This training is meant to assist both novice and experienced travellers, and will touch on subjects like earning loyalty points, booking tips, and trip management.

Start getting familiar with Egencia by choosing one of these options:

• You can watch a training session here Egencia training webinar
• Or you can find a vast amount of training resources on the Egencia website
• Learn where to get fast support by discovering the Help Centre.

You can contact Egencia customer service via:

Telephone: (+44) (0)207 949 5896

Email: customer_service@egencia.co.uk

or via the online form and live chat on the Egencia website.

If Egencia are unable to assist with your query, you can contact travel@surrey.ac.uk. This email is managed by the Finance team, who will assist with your query.

To learn more about how your data is processed, please read the Student Privacy Notice or contact dataprotection@surrey.ac.uk

Egencia Privacy Notice

When booking travel with Egencia either online or offline (via email or phone) you will be required to input the country risk number for your destination. The ratings are as follows:  

Level 1 - Risk Level Low 
Level 2 - Risk Level Moderate 
Level 3 - Risk Level Medium 
Level 4 - Risk Level High 
Level 5 - Risk Level Extreme  

If you are planning to travel to a high-risk and extreme risk destination you must speak to Health & Safety and Insurance ahead of booking.

Gather as much information on the current threat alerts (be it terrorism, civil uprising, or natural disaster) of your destination before undertaking your journey.

Travellers should check before departure for up-to-date information on their destination country which can be found on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website and via the AIG Travel Assistance App or website.

The AIG Travel Assistance App is your travel safety companion. Developed by security and medical experts it provides you with up-to-date travel information and advice and real time alerts on breaking news globally. The emergency mayday feature provides you with an email alert function to your emergency contact and a lifeline to specialist medical and security assistance 24 hours a day. In addition, view pre-trip advice, including personal safety advice, and country profiles for comprehensive travel safety information, as well as a secure personal travel document storage.

You can find the AIG Travel Assistance App on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. You can also use the AIG Travel Assistance website. You will be required to input your university email address and the Policy Number 0010016168.

Please ensure you check your intended destination against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) advice as to whether your destination is currently an ‘exempted’ country. In other words, the destination is one where non-essential travel is permitted. FCDO guidance can change frequently so please ensure you check regularly for the latest advice.

If your destination is on the FCDO exemption list, it is advisable to ensure that you are aware of any local foreign travel and border restrictions. Please see the UK government's foreign travel advice.

Any delays, cancellations and curtailments resulting from local conditions could fall under the insurance policy exclusion of; ‘regulations made by any public authority or government or persons with the authority under legislation or licence to make regulations’. This, where applicable, could exclude insurance claims for any costs of cancellation or curtailment of a trip after booking. Please see University Travel Insurance policy. 

When booking travel either online or offline, you will be required to submit a few pieces of mandatory information. These include:

Destination Risk Rating – This is only required for International Travel. Full information on this can be found on the pre-trip risk assessment slide in the appendix. All travellers are required undertake a review of the destination prior to booking and this can be done via the AIG Travel Assistance app. When completing the booking you need to input the destination risk rating number.

Project Code – a weekly set of the latest codes is built in to the Egencia website, when booking this way you can input your project code to book. When booking offline you will need to supply your desired project code to complete the booking.

Purpose Code – you can find your code to input from the attached list. This gives the University an understanding for the reason for your travel. Please see the Purpose Code List.

Duty of Care Complete - You will be asked to confirm you have completed a duty of care check ahead of your travel. This question is asking you to confirm you are happy to travel and aware of the risks associated with travelling to your destination. If you have any questions on your destination please speak to your department Health and Safety representative.

The UK Government have published a website you can use to check your passport eligibility to visit any EU country after Brexit.

Egencia also have a tool you can use to review your current status and any requirements you might have.

Egencia travel advisor tool

If you need help with a Visa you can contact Egencia customer service via:

Telephone: (+44) (0)207 949 5896 

Email: customer_service@egencia.co.uk

or via the online form and live chat on the Egencia website.

When you have booked your travel, you will need to request Travel Insurance coverage from the University provider TravelCert.

The University’s Personal Accident and Travel insurance covers all staff and students whilst undertaking authorised visits involving overseas travel on the business of the University of Surrey and its subsidiary companies.  

If it the first time you have used TravelCert you will need to register. Please answer the questions carefully as it is not possible to edit them after you have saved a trip.

If you have any questions on the coverage offered, please contact the Insurance office.

Ahead of making your booking you will need to conduct your pre-travel risk review of your destination, so you understand any factors impacting your travel. You will need to use our Insurers risk platform AIG Travel Assistance to review the risk rating of the destination. This is regularly updated with the latest advice.

When you are making your booking on Egencia, you will need to input the score from AIG Travel Assistance. This is so we can regularly review the destinations being travelled to and the risks associated with.

The ratings are as follows: 

Level 1 - Risk Level Low 
Level 2 - Risk Level Moderate 
Level 3 - Risk Level Medium 
Level 4 - Risk Level High 
Level 5 - Risk Level Extreme  

If you are planning to travel to a high-risk and extreme risk destination you must speak to Health & Safety and Insurance ahead of booking.

We also recommend you regularly review the FCDO travel advice for the country you are visiting.