91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Partnership proposals can be initiated by any faculty, staff, and/or administrator. Assessing interest may need to take place first prior to a proposal being submitted. In this case, the Center for Global Engagement (CGE) can assist with gauging campus interest by engaging different stakeholders.

Before submitting a proposal, the proposers will have engaged relevant stakeholders regarding operational aspects of the proposed agreement and include a summary of these conversations in the proposal. This aims to ensure that due diligence has been carried out before submission to verify the feasibility and viability of the proposed agreement (e.g., Student Financial Services if financial aid and tuition discounts are being considered, the Financial Officer to explore financial sustainability, Dean’s office, the academic department, Admissions, the Registrar, Housing, Student Affairs).

Steps

• The applicant prepares information for a proposed international partnership agreement by addressing the criteria listed in the rubric and submits it to respective department leadership for review and to gain initial approval. Proposal to department leadership must include a projected cost calculation, if applicable.
• The applicant submits the proposal to the Associate Provost for Global Engagement (APGE).
• The APGE, in collaboration with the International Student and Scholar Services Director and the Study Abroad Director, will review the proposals for completion and determine whether 91³Ô¹ÏÍø already has initiatives in place (e.g., sponsored programs or partnerships) that can expand to other areas. If the proposal is complete and there are not already equivalent initiatives in place, then the proposal is sent to the IEC.
• The IEC reviews the proposal and makes a recommendation to the APGE.
• Once approved by the Provost, and when needed, the respective CGE office supplies agreement templates for stakeholders to review and revise.
• The CGE facilitates the routing of agreements and serves as liaisons between campus offices and agreement initiator(s) during implementation and forwards the recommended proposal in the form of an MOU to the Provost.
• After all relevant signatures are collected, copies of signed agreements are entered into 91³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Agreement Database housed in the CGE and the Provost’s office. The agreement is fully executed and active after the date of the last signature.

Funding and Resources

Support from the CGE is in the form of human resources, risk management, and content expertise. The applicant is required to obtain funding from other sources if applicable. The CGE does not cover operating expenses.

Agreements

1. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): A general agreement that lists areas of possible joint activities, without creating financial obligations or committing resources. It demonstrates that the parties will explore potential areas of cooperation without any specific commitments.
2. Memorandum of Agreement (MOA): Details of outcomes, activities, and expectations of each partnering institution under those activities that may occur with specific academic units or university wide. Ideally, each partnership is based on an MOU outlining the institutional relationship and one or more MOUs describing specific activities.
   • Bilateral Student Exchange Agreement: Demonstrates a commitment by both partner universities to send and host students based on providing reciprocal tuition waivers.
   • Custom Agreement: Complex initiatives such as articulation agreements (e.g., undergraduate & graduate degrees), jointly managed facilities, and others that involve students and/or a commitment of resources.
   • Agreements Involving Teaching, Research or Creative Works: If the cooperative activities include research, inventions, or the creation of other copyrightable or patentable works, such as books, courses, software, art, photographs, etc., intellectual property issues and/or export control will need to be considered and addressed.

The following are common categories of partnerships in international higher education work.

Categories of Partnerships

1. Student and Faculty mobility: Student exchange (inbound and outbound), faculty exchange.
2. Collaborative research: For example, Young Southeast Asian Leaders (YSEALI).
3. Collaborative degrees: Articulation agreements (coursework must be academic in nature, not vocational), dual degrees, branch campuses.
4. Collaborative teaching: For example, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Erasmus+, etc.
5. Grant opportunities
6. Delegation visits