Establish a Linkage

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Establishing a partnership with an international institution or agency is not difficult.  Simply create a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  MOUs are institution-to-institution agreements, signed by the Chancellor of SIU and the counterpart of the international institution, that generally outline areas of cooperation, and are effective for a period of five (5) years.  If a department wishes to specifically collaborate with another institution’s department on a specific project, an Action Plan should be attached as an addendum to the MOU.

If a faculty is interested in exploring a potential partnership with an international institution, a Letter of Intent (LOI) may be appropriate.  Unlike MOUs, LOIs can be signed by the respective Deans, are non-binding, and can be terminated at any time.

The process for MOU from template to execution is also straightforward.  Faculty simply draft the MOU and have his or her department chair and dean to review and sign off.  The signatures and dates are collected on an approval form and scanned to Dr. Peter Li, Director of the Center for International Education.  The draft is then forwarded to the SIU Carbondale Office of General Counsel (OGC) for legal review.  Once approved and stamped to legal form, the Executive Director of the Center for International Education, who is the University’s Senior International Officer, as well as the Provost, will add their signatures to the sign-off sheet.  Finally, two original agreements, along with the sign-off sheet and OGC’s stamp of approval, will be delivered to our Office of the Chancellor for the Chancellor’s signature.  This process takes at least 30 days and no more than 90 days.  Afterward, both signed original documents will be sent to the international institution for signatures.  The international institution shall keep one original, and send one original back to be deposited in the International Partnership Development database at the Center for International Education.

As our partnerships are faculty-driven, whenever a linkage is being considered, please contact the Office of International Partnership Development when considering developing a partnership.  Or, you can simply download the required templates below:

If you have any further questions, please contact Dr. Peter Li, Director of the Center for International Education, at Inter@siu.edu