EHE Faculty Guidelines and Checklist for writing International Agreements

The purpose of these guidelines is to support faculty in building the consensus they need to support their international work. Building consensus contributes to rapid processing and more importantly institutional support for international engagement.

Roles: MOA/MOUs are institutional agreements between EHE, EHE and a regional campus, or EHE and an additional college(s), and an overseas partner institution(s). Although the agreement is between institutions, the initiator is usually a faculty or senior staff member. The initiator drafts the MOA/MOU with the supports identified below. Multiple staff in EHE and Ohio State’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) support drafting and processing agreements. When an MOA/MOU is in place, but soon to expire the initiator submits an updated draft.

Necessary documents: Faculty typically engage in three types of international agreements.

  1. Education Abroad Course Proposals, for offering an EHE course in a country overseas. There is no concept statement or MOA/MOU for this type of agreement. See forms.
  2. Student Exchanges, for constructing an exchange of students from Ohio State to an overseas intuition, with an equal number of students from the overseas institution coming to Ohio State. There is no concept statement or MOA/MOU for this type of agreement. See forms.
  3. MOAs/MOUs, for other teaching, research and service between an EHE faculty member and an overseas institution. The faculty member writes two documents, two to four pages: a concept statement that introduces the project to EHE administrators and the draft MOA/MOU. Completed MOAs and MOUs and OIA instructions can be viewed online.

How to start all agreements:

  1. Email the EHE International Programs Office to obtain current news on EHE priorities, supports and next steps.
  2. Contact your supervisor about your intent to develop a course proposal, student exchangement or MOA/MOU.
  3. Then draft documents with input from the overseas partner. Ask the partner if the agreement should be translated. Student exchange and education abroad forms are usually only in English. Education abroad courses do not always have an overseas partner.
  4. Email completed drafts to eheinternational@osu.edu for review by EHE International Programs staff and OIA staff, who will suggest revisions.
  5. After revisions are complete, concept statements must be signed by the supervisor, typically a department chair of regional dean.
  6. Finally, email completed documents to eheinternational@osu.edu. For MOA/MOUs, the signed Concept Statement and unsigned MOA/MOU are submitted; a staff member attaches a Signature Routing Form and monitors the signing process by regional campus and Columbus campus fiscal and academic officials. The EHE staff member also works with OIA staff to monitor progress of the document through OIA, Legal Affairs, fiscal agents, translations, and overseas partner signing. OIA informs the initiator when the document is signed and in force. Expected Timeline:
    • College level review and processing (7-10 business days)
    • Initial OIA review and processing (7-10 business days)

Concept Statement tips:
The concept statement summarizes the purpose and envisioned activities in one to two pages. It includes the:

  • overseas partner description and partnership history
  • partnership purpose and proposed activities
  • importance of the work for the department/college. How does the partnership meet the “strategic interests” of the department/college?
  • description of concrete products or outcomes
  • description of department/college financial resources to be provided
  • dated signature of the department chair/regional campus dean. If there is a financial commitment, the concept statement also needs to be reviewed by the unit fiscal officer

MOA/MOU tips:
The maximum duration of an MOA/MOU is five years. We recommend the following:

  • Make the agreement for the full five years unless there is a specific reason not to.
  • Although the concept statement may be specific, the MOA/MOU can be broad. Generally, broader language is preferred to allow for the changing nature of partnership over time.
  • Specific financial details are rarely placed in an MOA/MOU.
  • Signed MOA/MOU examples can be found on the OIA site.
  • MOAs and MOUs are different. Read more on the OIA site.
  • Student exchanges should not be included in an MOA/MOU. If a student exchange is part of the partnership, include one concept statement and two documents for signing: the MOA/MOU covering all aspects of the partnership (except student exchange) and a separate set of student exchange documents.