International Travel with OSU Owned Technology

Applies to: All staff, faculty, contractors and affiliated personnel managing or using university-owned assets.

Operating Procedure/Policy

This policy outlines requirements for College of Engineering faculty and staff who plan to take Ohio State University-owned technology outside the United States. Travelers must notify Engineering Technology Services (ETS) when university IT assets will leave the country. OSU owned devices may not be taken to high-risk destinations as defined by U.S. Department of State travel advisories or the Countries of Particular Concern lists. If the travel is for OSU business purposes and funded by OSU, ETS can provide a device loan for such travel if requested at least 30 days in advance.

Definitions

Operating Procedure and Policy Details

ETS must be notified when any IT assets purchased on any University funding source will be taken out of the country.

Compliance

• In compliance with OSU ISPCR IT10.13.1, only ETS-approved travel loaner devices may be taken to countries designated as high risk. Standard assigned OSU devices are prohibited from travel to countries designated as level 3 or 4 by the Department of State’s Travel Advisories, or to countries on the Department of State’s list of Countries of Particular Concern and Special Watch List Countries. ETS will provide a loaner device for people travelling to one of these countries on official OSU business if the loaner is requested at least 30 days prior to departure. Requests made with less lead time will be accommodated if possible. If a loaner cannot be made available, the traveler will be unable to take an OSU device with them.
• All data is subject to the Institutional Data Policy, the Information Security and Privacy Control Requirements, and the guidance of OSU Export Control.
• It is the responsibility of the traveler to know if there are any additional restrictions imposed by the US or other governments. There may be restrictions on device encryption, the use of VPNs, or other technologies.

International Travel to No/Low Risk Destinations

• If a college faculty member or staff person is traveling internationally with their standard work device to allowed destinations but would prefer a loaner laptop, they may request one. It will only be provided if the travel is for OSU business purposes and funded by OSU, and a loaner is available. Subsequent requests for a loaner being used for official university business in a restricted setting may supersede other requests.

Travel Notification and Loaner Request

• The College of Engineering will be generating a daily report on OSU travel requests and a ticket with ETS will be generated when a traveler’s destination meets the criteria identified above. The traveler must provide additional details in the ticket on their own.
• Information the traveler must provide to ETS when requesting a loaner device or when requesting to take an OSU asset to a country neither “high” on the advisory list, nor on either the particular concern or special watch lists:

1. A list of all countries that the customer will be visiting, including flight layovers. Are there any restrictions associated with visiting these locations?
2. What software will need to be installed? (aside from web browsers and Office 365 applications)
3. What OSU institutional data will be used or accessed on the trip? What is its security rating (S1-S4)? Are there any export controls for the data and is any of it considered CUI?
4. Is a loaner device being requested?
   1. What is the latest date on which the customer could take possession of the loaner laptop prior to travel?
   2. When will they be able to return it?

• University assets loaned to an individual require a signed off-campus use form and the borrower becomes the asset custodian for the duration of the loan, with all related responsibilities for the device.

Loaner Return

• It is the responsibility of the person borrowing a device to extract all needed data from it prior to returning it to ETS. Once the device is in ETS possession, the device will have its hard drive(s) securely wiped and the system reinstalled. No data can be retrieved from the device after that action.
• If your return is delayed and you will not be able to return the loaner by its due date, it is your responsibility to inform ETS of the delay. Please post a comment on your open ticket via the ETS Self-Service portal at https://ets.osu.edu/serviceportal with your updated return date.

Contacts 

History 

Issued: 04/03/2026