Corporate Travel Management for Universities and Education

A university is many organizations under one roof. A chemist flying to a conference on a federal grant, an athletics department moving a team, admissions officers on a recruiting circuit and twenty students heading abroad all travel under the same institution, with different budgets, approvers and rules.

The money source drives everything. Grant-funded trips follow the sponsor’s terms; public institutions often have state travel regulations; gifts and endowment funds may be more flexible. The same flight can be allowable on one account and not on another.

When travel is paid with US federal funds, including federal research grants, the Fly America Act generally requires a U.S.-flag air carrier. A flight operated by a foreign airline complies when it’s booked as a code-share under a U.S. airline’s code and flight number.

Exceptions are narrow and must be documented: no U.S. carrier available, a U.S. carrier would add 24 hours or more, certain connection and short-flight conditions, or an Open Skies agreement, which as of 2026 covers the EU, Australia, Switzerland and Japan. The UK is no longer covered by the EU agreement, and Open Skies exceptions don’t apply to Defense Department funding. Cost and convenience never qualify; your sponsored-programs office has the final word.

Field research often means remote places, long stays and specialized gear: a geologist in Namibia, an ecologist in the Amazon, an archaeologist on a summer dig. Plan for the medical evacuation coverage the location needs, satellite communication where phones don’t reach, and the customs status of every instrument.

Export controls can apply to research too. Laptops holding controlled technical data, certain instruments and travel to sanctioned countries may need review by your export control office before anyone books a flight.

Students change the duty-of-care equation. Group trips need verified passports for every traveler, guardian consent where minors are involved, sensible chaperone ratios, and a plan for the student who loses a passport or falls ill on day two.

By sorting the rules before booking. Empyrean can capture the funding source and approver on every trip, book federally funded flights to Fly America requirements with the documentation your grants office needs, and handle group logistics for students, recruiting teams and athletics.

Departments, labs and athletics can all work with the same advisor, while finance sees every trip tagged to the account that paid for it.