Travel insurance for staff and students

You can find more information on the conditions under which a business trip is permitted on the intranet page Work-related travel.

The University of Groningen has taken out a collective travel insurance policy for staff and students making work or study-related journeys abroad. This was done with an eye to the University’s internationalization efforts.

The main components of this insurance policy include payment in the event of an accident, medical costs (supplementary), death, aid and care provision, loss of personal possessions, liability, legal assistance, and financial and other support in the event of evacuation in crisis situations. The travel insurance policy also includes cancellation insurance.

Travel application and registration

Have you received approval from your manager and the budget holder? If so, you may directly book your journey via the travel agent Diversity Travel. It is no longer necessary to first fill out a travel request and receive a request number (BRA).When lodging a damage claim, you must submit a statement from your manager or project leader confirming that you were indeed on a business trip.Students must also be able to present written documentary evidence that the trip is indeed work or study-related.

Damage/loss and/or assistance

The travel insurance has been taken out with AIG (policy no. 60.11.5101). In the event of damage/loss while abroad, or if you require personal assistance while abroad, please notify the AIG Emergency Assistance helpline (+31 (0)10-453 5656) as soon as possible.

You can submit a claim on your return, using a claim form (download as Word.doc). Completed forms must be mailed to the Financial Shared Service Center (FSSC) for further processing of the claim. Mail address: travel-fssc rug.nl (see the notes on travel claims for tips on filling in the form) . You can also ask any questions you may have using this mail address.

Damage/losses and personal assistance and the related costs must be reported promptly, otherwise the employee or student will be liable for these. There is an excess of € 250 for each damage/loss claim. Further information about the AIG Group Plus business travel insurance policy can be found in the General Terms and Conditions.

Cancellation

Cancellation of a trip: The travel insurance has a cancellation clause. However, not every reason for cancellation is regarded as a "covered event" for the conditions of the travel insurance. This appendix contains the list of "covered events" for a claim for cancellation under the travel insurance. It is the insurer AIG, not the university, who makes a decision whether the costs are reimbursed.

Students

It has become apparent that it is not always clear whether students are covered by the insurance when travelling abroad. A number of guidelines are listed below. Students are insured in the following cases:

• if they go abroad to earn ECTS credit points for their degree programme, regardless of this being a requirement

• if they are following a placement abroad (at a company, institution or university) for which they will earn ECTS credit points
• if they travel abroad on a compulsory study trip
• if they travel abroad to promote the University of Groningen at trade fairs
• if they are foreign students studying at the University of Groningen and travel abroad on a compulsory study trip.
• Students are not insured in the following cases:
• foreign travel organized by a study association
• if they extend a period spent abroad with a holiday, the insurance does not cover the holiday period.

Scholarship students

Scholarship students who travel abroad for their PhD studies, with permission, are also covered by the insurance.

Partner and children

The insurance covers the employee’s husband/wife or partner (who has lived with the employee for at least 1 year) and unmarried children younger than 27 years of age who live at home or are students living away from home.

Policy excess

An excess of € 250 is payable for each incident of damage to baggage.

Negative travel advice

The policy of the Board of the University is that if the advice for a certain country or area is negative (colour code red) or only for essential travel (colour code orange), no permission will be given for the journey.

If a certain country or area has colour code red (negative travel advice) or orange (only essential travel), it must be clear that this country or areas will not be destinations (for study/placement/other) and that the student/employee will not travel to them. If the student/employee nevertheless travels to such a destination, the travel will not be classified as study or work-related, and the student/employee will not be covered by the insurance. This does not apply if colour code red (negative travel advice) or orange (only essential travel) comes into effect during the stay.