EHE Faculty Guidelines and Checklist for writing International Agreements

Purpose: 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 & 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 almost always a faculty or senior staff member. The initiator drafts the MOA/MOU with the supports identified below. Multiple staff in EHE and OSU’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) support the drafting and processing of the agreement. When an MOA/MOU is in place but soon to expire the initiator submits an updated draft.

What documents are needed: There are three types of international agreements faculty typically engage in:

A. Education Abroad Course Proposals. This is for offering an EHE course in an overseas country. There is no concept statement or MOA/MOU for this type of agreement. Use the forms here: https://oia.osu.edu/faculty-resident-directors/guidelines-for-developing-study-abroadprogram.html

B. Student Exchanges. This is for constructing an exchange of students from OSU to an overseas intuition with an equal number of students from the overseas institution coming to OSU. There is no concept statement or MOA/MOU for this type of agreement. Use the forms here: https://oia.osu.edu/exchange-students.html

C. MOAs/MOUs – This is for other teaching, research and service between an EHE faculty member and an overseas institution. The faculty member writes 2 documents which are a total of 2 – 4 pp, – a concept statement which introduces the project to EHE administrators and the draft MOA/MOU. Completed MOAs and MOUs, and OIA instructions can be viewed here: https://oia.osu.edu/internationalagreements/memoranda-of-agreement.html

How to start: For all agreements follow this procedure:

  1. Inform the EHE International Programs Office by emailing: eheinternational@osu.edu. The purpose of this contact is to obtain current news on EHE priorities, supports and next steps.
  2. At the same time contact your supervisor and inform them of your intent to develop a course proposal, student exchange, or MOA/MOU.
  3. With these steps complete, the documents can be drafted with input from the overseas partner. The partner should also be asked if the agreement can be in English or if there must also be a translation. Student Exchange and Education Abroad forms are usually only in English. Education Abroad courses do not always have an overseas partner.
  4. After the drafts are complete they can be emailed to eheinternational@osu.edu. They will be reviewed by EHE International Programs staff and by OIA staff who will suggest revisions to the initiator.  01-2016
  5. After revisions are complete, Concept Statements must be signed by the supervisor, typically a Department Chair of Regional Dean.
  6. Finally completed documents are emailed to eheinternational@osu.edu. For MOA/MOUs the signed Concept Statement and unsigned MOA/MOU are submitted and 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 then informs the initiator when the document is signed and in force. Expected Timeline:
    1. College level review and processing (7-10 business days)
    2. Initial OIA review and processing (7-10 business days)

Concept Statement tips:
The concept statement summarizes the purpose and envisioned activities in 1 – 2 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 5 years. Generally we recommend:

  • Make the agreement for the full 5 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.
  • It is very rare that specific financial details are placed in an MOA/MOU.
  • Signed MOA/MOU examples can be found on the OIA www site.
  • MOAs and MOUs are different – read about that difference on the OIA www site.
  • Student Exchanges should not be included in an MOA/MOU. If a student exchange is part of the partnership there should be 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.