GRANTS   INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL GRANTS

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL GRANTS: GUIDELINES

1. Overview

TESOL Arabia offers grants to assist members in travel, accommodation, and living expenses incurred in participating in conferences, conventions, seminars, symposia and similar professionally-related events, other than TESOL Arabia events, outside the UAE/GCC. This grant provides limited financial support for individual eligible TESOL Arabia members to present papers, or play a significant role in such events which are relevant to TESOL Arabia. The grant is administered by the International Travel Grant Committee which is composed of the Vice President, who acts as the Committee Chair, one other member of the TESOL Arabia Executive Council, and three ordinary members of TESOL Arabia in good standing appointed at the discretion of the Chair. This Committee will field all applications.

2. Types of Events for which a Grant may be Requested

1. Any professionally-related conference or similar event held outside the UAE/GCC.
2. TESOL Arabia events such as the TESOL Arabia Annual International Conference are specifically excluded. Separate arrangements exist for offering grants to those events.

3. Current Limitations and Constraints

Given funding limitations, the following constraints are necessary:

1. Financial support available through the International Travel Grant will in many cases be modest and partial in terms of the full costs of the proposed activity. TESOL Arabia expects that the applicants will apply for other funds and use some of their own resources. This enables the allocated resources to benefit more members.
2. There is no absolute entitlement to money in any given year and when the funds are depleted no further applications will be accepted.
3. Applicants may only be funded for one International Travel Grant per budget year. The budget year runs from 1st October to 30th September.
4. No International Travel Grant shall exceed 2,500AED per year.

4. Eligibility

All current active members of TESOL Arabia who have been a member of TESOL Arabia for at least one full calendar year are eligible to apply for funding. Current members of TESOL Arabia who have been members for less than one full calendar year are not eligible to apply for funding.

5. Applying for an International Travel Grant

1. Applicants are requested to complete the online application in full. This will automatically be sent to the Chair of the International Travel Grant Committee when it is submitted.
2. Documentation supporting your service to TESOL Arabia should be sent as an e-mail attachment to The Committee Chair on the same day as you submit your application online. Supporting documentation is required if your service to TESOL Arabia includes possibly undocumented assistance at Chapter or SIG activities, in which case you should submit a recommendation stating your service to TESOL Arabia at these events from the appropriate Chapter Rep or SIG Chair.
3. Applications should only be submitted for the budget year in which the event will be held. The budget year runs from 1st October to 30th September.
4. Incomplete documentation will not be considered.
5. Applications should be submitted at least three weeks before the event begins. The Committee will aim at giving the candidate its decision within two weeks of submission.

6. Criteria for Awarding the International Travel Grant Funding is evaluated and awards made based on the following factors:

1. whether the applicant has previously received money from TESOL Arabia in the form of a Travel-In Grant, an International Travel Grant, or a Professional Development Course Grant
2. the relevance of the event for which money is requested to TESOL Arabia
3. the applicant's service to TESOL Arabia
4. whether the candidate is presenting a paper or has a significant role in the event

7. Responsibilities of the Grantee

Before payment of the TG(O) can be made, the following conditions must be met. The grantee must:

1. provide proof of registration for the event. This would normally be in the form of original receipts or a letter of registration.
2. if applicable, provide proof of acceptance of a presentation, or their role in the event.
3. prove attendance. This would normally be in the form of a photocopy of the conference attendance certificate.
4. provide original receipts for registration, travel, accommodation and living expenses at least to the amount of the grant
5. feed back to TESOL Arabia the knowledge gained from the event and its application to teaching English to speakers of other languages by a means agreed with the Chair. This may be one or more of the following:
   1. submitting a report of at least 500 words for Perspectives
   2. presenting a session for one of the TESOL Arabia Chapter or SIG events
   3. completing another activity agreed with the Committee.

All original receipts, photocopies of certificates, and the written report for Perspectives (or proof of the other activity agreed upon) should be sent within two weeks of the end of the event to:

Les Kirkham
TESOL Arabia International Travel Grant Chair
travelgrants@tesolarabia.org