International Partnerships Procedure

Procedure for establishing formal institutional-level relations between UM and overseas institutions

The University welcomes and supports personal initiatives to establish contacts and working collaborations between scholars and units at UM and their international counterparts. Such contacts - however informal - constitute a relationship between UM and an overseas institution. In order to maximize the use of University resources in the establishment of overseas partnerships, the formalization of international partnerships involving signed documentation at the higher administrative levels first must involve a period of review and oversight by university officials involved with international matters. To that end, the following procedures have been adopted for the consideration of new overseas institutional partnerships and the formalization of relations with the partner institution:

1. Proposed partnerships must have at least one advocate who is a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member or administrator at the level of dean or director or higher on the UM campus. The advocate must have a working knowledge of the candidate partner institution and must agree to serve as the point of contact for questions regarding the long-term institutional benefit of the proposed partnership.
2. Faculty members or administrators interested in exploring the possibility of an overseas institutional relationship are requested to meet with the Director for the Office of International Programs to discuss their ideas. If the advocate decides to move forward with a proposal, he/she must draft and submit to the International Committee a written document that will address the following critical issues with regard to the proposed partnership: a) identification of the units on campus that are best poised to benefit from the establishment of a formal partnership. The key here is that the advocate must demonstrate that significant academic merit and institutional compatibility exist to establish a formal long-term relationship; b) evidence that campus units advocating the partnership have developed a multi-year plan for activity involving students or faculty or both, as well as evidence that the partnership is real and meaningful and has significant potential for growth over the long term; c) evidence that the partnership will strengthen research, teaching, or other scholastic activity and will substantially enhance existing student and/or faculty opportunities at UM. It is also important in this regard to justify that the proposed partnership provides significant new opportunities to UM faculty and students, particularly if UM already has agreements in place with other universities from the same country or the same region; d) discussion of the financial ramifications of establishing a formal agreement (proposed arrangements for exchange student tuition and fees, discussion of grant proposals to be submitted as part of the collaboration, etc.). It is important that the advocate be present at the meeting during which the International Committee discusses their proposal, in order to answer questions, etc.
3. Following review and discussion of the written proposal by the International Committee, a recommendation to the Director for the Office of International Programs will be made by the committee.
4. If the Director for the Office of International Programs approves of the proposal, the Director may elect to make a site visit or send a designee to the proposed partner institution. Typically, one or more of the campus advocates for the relationship will be part of a site visit delegation. At this stage, a memorandum of understanding may be signed, based on the recommendation of the Director and approval by the International Committee. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) may not be signed at this stage.
5. Following the site visit, the the Director for the Office of International Programs will make a recommendation to the International Committee and, upon its final review, forward that recommendation to the Provost and President.
6. Following approval by the Provost and President, a formal Memorandum of Agreement may be signed by the President or his designee.

For questions about International Partnership Procedure please contact Marja Unkuri-Chaudhry at marjac@mso.umt.edu