International Agreements
U of A maintains strategic partnerships at the faculty, college and institutional levels with partners throughout the world, contributing to a global university environment and a strong international profile.
The International Agreements Team works closely with stakeholders across U of A campuses to support these strategic partnerships while protecting institutional interests, including developing agreements that serve to formalize a wide range of activities and ensuring proposed partnerships align with desired programming outcomes, institutional priorities, as well as complying with relevant regulations and policies.
Contact us as early as possible in the process to ensure we can help you meet your targets.
International agreements process
Navigating international agreements can be complex and will often require significant internal consultation and approvals by both parties. Even agreements that seem simple will often have unexpected complexities, and require review by multiple stakeholders. For this reason, agreements should only be proposed when necessary to support collaboration, noting that implementation of partnership initiatives may not require an agreement at all.
To manage international partners' expectation, please note that a minimum of three months to one year is generally required to bring an agreement proposal to a successful signing.
Process overview
- A proposal form is required. The proposal should outline, in detail, the intended scope of activities anticipated under the agreement, and provide sufficient rationale for entering into the agreement.
- The proposal, including the partner and scope of activities, is reviewed and assessed.
- Relevant stakeholders, including International Education & Enrollment and VP (Research), are engaged to determine feasibility.
- The relevant faculty or college dean’s office will be consulted as appropriate to confirm their support in moving ahead with the proposed agreement.
- The International Agreements Team (IAT) provides an initial draft or, alternatively, reviews the partner’s draft. IAT then assists in continuing review and negotiations with the external partner.
- In many cases, this part of the process takes months and requires further consultation with internal stakeholders on both sides.
- IAT assists in shepherding a proposed agreement through any required stakeholder reviews/approvals, including Insurance and Risk Assessment, Office of the General Counsel, Safeguarding Research Office, and any governance approvals such as by FGPS Council, etc.
- IAT prepares and circulates finalized agreements with the required briefing materials for signing in accordance with Schedule A: Signing Authority for Contractual Obligations on Behalf of the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta.
- IAT is responsible for archiving copies of all fully executed international agreements.
- Agreements should be assessed midway through their lifetime and again at their expiry before submitting a proposal for renewal. Renewals should be initiated at least 6 months prior to expiry.