UConn faculty interested in establishing a formal institutional relationship and collaboration with a university partner overseas, the following is a step by step process and information on types of agreements Global Partnerships & Outreach can help you develop.
This process is applicable to the creation or renewal of Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs), Mobility Agreements, Capacity Building and Training Program Agreements, among others. This procedure helps expedite the process of international agreements from initiation to execution.
In order to develop an agreement, a global partnership should have a UConn Faculty or Staff Sponsor—a member of the faculty or staff who is committed to helping build a productive multifaceted interdisciplinary relationship with the partner institution. The Faculty/Staff Sponsor commits to:
- Following to the agreement development process by submitting the specified proposal forms and securing leadership approval;
- Supporting proposed projects and programs throughout the duration of the agreement;
- Involving faculty throughout their department, college/school and the university in engaging with the collaboration.
- Submitting partner activity reports.
Step 1: Check current global partnerships and ensure internal support.
- Check out our Interactive Partnership Map and/or contact globalpartnerships@uconn.edu to determine if there are already existing agreements with the proposed international partner(s).
- Discuss the initiative with your Department Head, Dean, and the Director of Global Partnerships & Outreach to learn about any applicable internal departmental, college/school policies for global collaborations and confirm departmental/college/school support for the initiative.
Step 2: Complete and submit Global Partnership Proposal Form.
- Submit your new global partnership request by completing the online Global Partnership Proposal Form.
- Include information and attachments that will be helpful in the review process, such as draft agreements or documents provided to you by the proposed international partner. We strongly encourage the use of the UConn’s agreement templates, as using alternatives will significantly increase the processing and execution time. Incomplete agreement proposals will be returned to the Faculty/Staff Sponsor for completion
- Global Partnerships & Outreach will respond within 10 business days to the initial request. Certain agreements have additional requirements and may require input from various UConn stakeholders as part of the approval process. In these cases, Global Partnerships & Outreach will provide additional information and instructions to the Faculty/Staff Sponsor. GLOBAL AFFAIRS WILL CONFIRM MOVING FORWARD OR NOT—agreement negotiation may depend on approval of other stakeholders. Stakeholders may include but not be limited to Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Vice President for Research, Compliance, Procurement, the Graduate School.
Step 3: Agreement drafting and negotiation.
- Global Partnerships & Outreach reviews the partnership proposal and submitted materials (such as draft agreements) and will coordinate agreement content with relevant stakeholders (if necessary), and return a draft agreement to the UConn Faculty/Staff Sponsor using a UConn template approved by UConn’s Office of the General Counsel.
- The UConn Faculty/Staff Sponsor may share the draft agreement with the collaborating institution, and copy Global Partnerships & Outreach, which will take over the negotiation process. The collaborating institution may propose edits during this time. Edits will be reviewed and negotiated by the Global Partnerships & Outreach team in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel. All changes to the UConn agreement template should be clearly marked during this process, and must be approved by Global Affairs, the Office of the General Counsel, and other relevant stakeholders (if needed), before signing.
- The controlling language for all UConn Agreements must be English. However, agreements may have translations provided by the partner institution, as long as a letter certifying the translation is completed by a UConn faculty or staff member. In case of any disputes arising from an Agreement that has a translation, the English version will prevail, and the agreement will note as much.
- Depending on the type of agreement, its complexity, and number of UConn stakeholders, and the response time from the collaborating institution, this step may take a few months
Step 4: Agreement approval and execution.
- Following approval of the draft agreement, the duly authorized institutional authorities named in the agreement sign the agreement. Execution of a PDF copy shall have the same force and effect as execution of an original, as long as all signatures appear on a single document. NOTE: DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC UCONN IS ACCEPTING ELECTRONIC SIGNING OF DOCUMENTS.
- One copy of the fully executed agreement remains with the partner institution; one copy is retained by the UConn Global Affairs. Global Affairs will provide an electronic copy to the sponsoring department, University Archives and the State of Connecticut CHRO.
Step 5: Records maintenance.
- Global Partnerships & Outreach will send a scanned copy of the fully executed agreement via email to the collaborating partners and UConn stakeholders. Global Partnerships & Outreach will add the document to its Partnership Database, provide a copy to University Archives and the State of Connecticut Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities.
Agreement Types & Templates
Global Partnerships & Outreach has worked closely with the University’s Office of the General Counsel to create approved Form Agreements for a variety of global partner relationships ranging from general affiliation Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) and mobility agreements to Capacity Building and Training Program Agreements. We encourage the use of pre-approved templates in collaborating with global partners. The UConn agreement templates may not be modified without approval from Global Affairs and Office of the General Counsel. Agreements related to the graduate students and research, must involve consultation with The Graduate School and Office of the Vice President for Research as respectively. Other UConn stakeholders are involved as appropriate. Please see descriptions of various agreement templates below:
Memoranda of Agreement (MOA)
MOAs refer to general, non-binding institutional level agreements that formalize a relationship between UConn and a collaborating institution(s). MOAs are intended to be supplemented with specific implementing agreements regarding particular collaborations. This template is intentionally non-committal in regards to university funds, staff, facilities, or other resources. MOAs may reference a college, school, or center, setting forth general plans for collaboration. MOAs can be used to establish a broad research relationship with the goal of exploring potential collaborations or when specific collaborative research exists and both institutions want to document their commitment to collaborate with one another with the intent of seeking funding and subsequently entering into more specific legally binding funded research agreements (funded research agreements are negotiated through the Office of the Vice President for Research).
Global Partnerships & Outreach will determine the appropriate institutional authority to sign the MOA based on the content and the scope of the intended activity.
Student Mobility
Exchange: An Exchange refers to an agreement in which UConn and the collaborating institution commit to a 1:1 balanced bilateral exchange of students. Under this arrangement, students take credit-bearing courses—which each institutions agrees to accept and award credit for according to their respective policies—towards degree completion. These agreements layout specific responsibilities of each institution towards each other and the students who participate in the exchange. The commitments made in such agreements include but are not limited to financial terms, insurance, liability, privacy, housing, academic equivalencies, non-discrimination and integrity.
Short-term Mobility: UConn may contract with a collaborating institution to provide services for students going on short-term or intersession programs. Such academic programs may be credit bearing or non-credit and must be proposed to and approved by the Education Abroad Advisory Board. These agreements layout specific responsibilities of each institution towards each other and the students who participate in the exchange. The commitments made in such agreements include but are not limited to financial terms, insurance, liability, privacy, housing, academic equivalencies, non-discrimination and integrity.
Student Research/Non-Credit Mobility: A Student Research or Non-Credit Mobility agreement is one in which UConn and a partner institution commit to hosting students for short term research or internship purposes. Students are responsible for all their own costs, and the host institution generally provides some form of mentorship along with visa sponsorship. Students do not take credit bearing courses at the host institution during this time, and therefore do not transfer any credits back to their home institution. These agreements layout specific responsibilities of each institution towards each other and the students who participate in the exchange. The agreement provisions may include financial terms, insurance, liability, privacy, housing, non-discrimination and intellectual property. These agreements are typically department specific as they require department faculty commit time towards mentoring visiting students.
Under rare instances, with the express consent of the Graduate School and faculty advisors, a student may explore a dual graduate degree with existing global partner. These agreements are quite rare, as fulfilling all requirements of both UConn and the partner’s graduate degree program are extremely difficult for a student to complete in the allotted timeframe.
Faculty Mobility
A faculty mobility agreement is one in which UConn and a partner institution commit to hosting faculty and scholars for short-term research visits or sabbatical semesters. The faculty are responsible for all their own expenses, and are paid by their home institution. The host institution generally provides visa sponsorship, office space, library access and other amenities to facilitate a productive research visit. Visiting faculty/scholars may be asked to present a few research lectures and participate in departmental events. These agreements layout specific responsibilities of each institution towards each other and the faculty/scholars who participate in the exchange. The agreement provisions may include, but are not limited to, financial terms, insurance, liability, privacy, housing, non-discrimination and intellectual property. Faculty mobility agreements are typically department or school specific, as they require departments commit office space and potentially additional resources depending on the arrangement.
Capacity Building & Training Program*
UConn Global Affairs works with UConn Schools/Colleges and other relevant UConn stakeholders to leverage our human capital to provide custom training programs and services for partner institutions. Capacity Building and Training Program Agreements detail specific deliverables, responsibilities and roles of the parties involved. Programs range from non-credit training programs for students and professionals to services such as curriculum development.
Visiting Student Partnership (Non-Degree Credit Enrollment)*
A Visiting Student Partnership Agreement is entered into when UConn is willing to accept a pre-determined number of students from a partner institution as cohort based non-degree enrollments. The partner institution enters into an agreement with UConn to send up to a set number of students in predetermined fields of study for one semester or academic year. The maximum number of students is determined through prior agreement with each participating UConn academic department. Students interested in participating must be nominated by their home institution. The final admission decision is made by the UConn department. All international non-degree students must meet a program-dependent criteria and abide by guidelines set forth in the agreement and program application. The partner institution agrees to accept UConn credit towards completion of the student’s degree requirements.
* These agreements are entrepreneurial in nature. Please email globalpartnerships@uconn.edu to learn more.
We strongly encourage the use of the UConn agreement templates, as using alternatives will significantly increase the amount of time required to negotiate terms and execute the agreement.
- UConn templates that are used with minimal changes to terms are typically processed within 4 weeks, contingent on the responsiveness of the partner institution.
- Significant alterations to a UConn Template, use of non-UConn templates, or requesting the creation of a new type of agreement could significantly delay the process, depending on the complexity of the agreement and the responsiveness of the partner institution.
Other UConn Contracting Offices
At UConn, there are different contracting offices that handle contracts, depending on the type of contract. Please note that depending on the nature of the activities, Global Affairs may need to defer your request to any of the following offices.
- Sponsored Program Services (SPS), within the Office of the Vice President for Research assists faculty with the administration of sponsored program activities. SPS is responsible for the review, approval and sometimes submission of grant proposals, and subsequent award and sub-award contracts for funding from government agencies, private industry, and non-profit foundations and the central point of coordination for sponsored projects.
- Technology Commercialization Services, within the Office of the Vice President for Research assists faculty and students with agreements with Intellectual Property, including material and data transfer agreements, licensing, new company formation, patents, and copyrights.
- University Business Services is responsible for reviewing, negotiating, and establishing legal, binding agreements and contracts for the procurement of goods and services.