jim1@garfield.UUCP (Jim Orr) (08/09/84)
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This advice reflects my experience on sabbatical from Memorial
University of Newfoundland in Australia, but may be generally useful.
SABBATICAL LEAVE - some practical advice
J. C. Orr
Consider taking less than one full year. Six or nine months is
less of a disruption if you are doing research here. Others have commented
that a year is too long. Begin planning and application at least a year in
advance.
Where to go
This of course is dictated by your professional interests, but where
a couple are trying to find a town with research interests suitable for both,
the Corporate Index section of Science Citation Index, which lists publications
by location, can be very helpful.
Salary
You will be on 75% of you usual salary as far as MUN is concerned,
but there are several agencies which give financial support for travel,
partial salary or both; some include family travel expenses. Among such
agencies are:
NSERC
The Medical Research Council of Canada
NATO Senior Fellowships in Science.
Passports, etc.
Arrange to have a formal letter of invitation from the person with
whom you will be doing your sabbatical work. If abroad, ensure that your
passport is valid beyond the end of your leave by at least two months in
order not to disrupt any last minute extension to complete your research,
or allow a holiday. Inquire about visas as soon as you have the location
fixed. When applying for a visa, ask for two months longer than your plans
call for. Ask the foreign embassy if the host university is required to
inform (or request permission of) the host country's Immigration Dept.
Such was the case in Australia, though neither the host academic nor I
was informed of this. Fortunately he knew.
Banking
Speak personally to someone responsible where you bank. Tell her or
him that you will be away from __________ to ___________. Get her direct
telephone line, preferably also the home phone in case of dire financial
emergency. Find the name of a corresponding bank in the town you're
going to, get your bank to send a letter stating that you have been a
responsible customer for n years. Open a bank account in the sabbatical town
head office and deposit some money there (about $1,000 or more) for when you
arrive. Get a local credit card if necessary. I find that Mastercard is
useless in Australia, for instance.
Arrange for regular transfer from the St. John's bank of a proportion
of your salary each time the University deposits it there. Consider having the
money telexed (Airmail to Australia varied from 2 - 3 weeks, sometimes longer!)
Documentation
Take with you a last-year's University directory.
You may need proof of your preferred status for car insurance (Gold Key
or whatever) if you intend to take out car insurance in a foreign country.
Check if your valid Canadian licence is considered valid for extended periods
by the foreign country.
Take with you the exact names and telephone numbers in St. John's
of anyone you may need to have dealings with by phone from the sabbatical
location e.g. life insurance, house insurance, dentist (for old dental records
if necessary). Take a copy of your glasses prescription and any other relevant
health records. Make a xerox of your credit cards etc. Keep this xerox with
you; have a copy of it, and a list of all your paper assets: life insurance,
stocks, bonds, and their amounts, addresses and identifying numbers in a safe
place such that a fire at one location e.g. your St. John's home, will not
leave you having to do a difficult reconstruction job.
Make a will and have a copy of it in more than one location, and make
your heirs aware of where they can get to it in the event of your death.
Keep with you, but not in your wallet, the telephone numbers and telex
codes of any credit card company that must be notified if you lose your wallet.
Remember 800 numbers are useless from abroad.
Consider and give appropriate instruction as to what mail should be
forwarded to your new location, e.g. only first class to be forwarded. If you
get manuscripts to review as a referee, do you want them to be sent on to you,
or returned to the editor unseen? Decide and leave appropriate instructions
and a draft of the reply letter.
Make up a small sheet or card giving your leave location and duration,
telephone number there, nearest telex location code, the name of the permanent
resident of your sabbatical location, who is well known there, and who can
readily find you (be sure to take him/her a decent gift when you first arrive).
Give this card to friends, secretaries, the mail room etc.
Renting your House
If you are renting your house in St. John's, leave responsibility for
its management with a local friend (preferably one who you can do the same for
at a later date if she/he goes on sabbatical).
Leave this person your power of attorney in writing, and have it
clearly understood who will pay lawyer's fees, if he has to litigate with a
house renter on your behalf while you are incommunicado (e.g. on the Great
Barrier Reef in a hurricane). Your representative may have to act at 1-2
hours notice if there is evidence, e.g. that the renter is terminating the
lease, leaving the country, and leaving the house a wreck all within the next
week.
Find the location of work of all adults who will be involved in renting
your house, get them all to be committed, in writing, severally for the
maintenance of the house and the payment of the rent.
Have a deposit of 1 or 2 months rent refundable on a given date after
your return, not refundable at the end of the lease if they should leave early.
Make it clear in the lease that the deposit is not refundable until you
personally have had a chance to check the state of the house. This is
particularly important if you rent the place furnished.
Have a copy of the lease held by your St. John's friend and take one
with you so that you can more intelligently discuss by phone any exigencies.
General
Take maps and photographs of Newfoundland. People are interested.
If you'll be giving talks, take slides of where Newfoundland is
(the Medical Audio Visual Service has slides of the map centered on St. John's)
and of the University.
Take a selection of small gifts, tea towels, mini-Screech bottles,
labradorite; you will probably be invited out to peoples' houses, perhaps for
long weekends.
Reckon on having much more luggage to bring home than you took from
St. John's. Consider mailing summer (or winter) clothes, souvenirs, etc.
home a few months before your return.
If you firmly intend to make any long trips from your sabbatical
location, do it early in the leave, not later, as time seems to pass at
exponentially increasing speed.
Health
Consider if you wish to have extra medical coverage to allow for
prompt treatment of health emergencies. If you decide not to take extra,
take with you some official pamphlet or letter detailing what expenses are
covered abroad for presenting in a foreign hospital if necessary. In some
places, treatment may be withheld until this is cleared up. Also take with
you copies of any appropriate forms for application for reimbursement of
medical expenses.
Grant in Lieu of Salary
It will probably be worthwhile to take $3,000 - $5,000 as grant in
lieu of salary.
Expenses to do with re-location, and research expenses not recoverable
by other means become, in effect, not part of your taxable income. Possible
items are:
Attendance at conferences in the area of your sabbatical.
Scientific supplies, stationery, phone calls (business
related) to St. John's or elsewhere. Taxi (or car mileage)
to visit other laboratories.
Relocation expenses including housing for a few days while you
find a semi-permanent residence. Transportation involved in
finding the above residence.
Keep all receipts; none are too small; they provide additional evidence
that you actually were on business-related trips when you say you were. They
must be available for your tax returns. A zippered conference folder is useful
for this.
Literature on Sabbatical Leaves
Financial Post, April 1, 1984 p96: "Sabbatical Savvy" by Arthur Drache.