AIT P&P on Partnerships Agreements Definitions, Processing and Finalization

ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

POLICY AND PROCEDURE STATEMENT Reference

AA

Issued By

PRESIDENT

Section

1

Responsible Officer

OIA Director

2-6

Date Issued

1 March 2009

4

Date Revised

30 March 2021

Serial No. Academic & Administrative Affairs No. of Pages

TITLE:

I.

PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT DEFINITIONS, PROCESSING AND FINALIZATION

PURPOSE: To set forth the policy for the development, approval and signing of partnership agreements, most of which would be known as Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).

II.

III.

SCOPE A.

This policy and procedure statement is applicable for the development, approval and signing of all types of partnership agreements (at the institute level as well as at lower levels), usually named MoU or MoA, except OIA is not responsible for oversight of research agreements, those related to sponsored and/or contracted projects, which shall follow the P&P on Externally Sponsored and Contracted Projects (AA-5-2-1).

B.

This statement provides definitions of the types of partnership agreements; prescribe formats for the agreements; and define the processing of these agreements leading to their finalization and signing.

DEFINITIONS A.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 1.

An MoU is the overarching agreement governing the relationship between two institutions. An MoU should be signed before more specific agreements can be established.

2.

An MoU is to be established at the Institute to Institute/University level, not as School to School or Department to Department agreements.

Page 1/4

AA-1-2-6: PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT DEFINITIONS, PROCESSING AND FINALIZATION

B.

C.

Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) 1.

An MoA is a specific agreement, normally stemming out of an MoU, considering one or more of the activities outlined in the MoU.

2.

An MoA may be established at a lower level than the Institute, as School to School or Department to Department agreements provided that there is a parent MoU to which the MoA can be associated with.

3.

Where there is no parent MoU to which the MoA can be associated with, the latter is to be established at the Institute to Institute/University level.

Contrasting definitions of Partner Where the Partner’s definition of the type of agreement does not match that of AIT’s, the institute will first try to insist on the AIT definition, but if the partner, identified as well known, insists on its own definition and the agreement is going to be for the benefit of the institute, the institute may agree to accept the Partner’s definition of the type of agreement.

IV.

V.

FORMAT / TEMPLATE A.

As much as possible, the MoU and MoA formats/templates given in Appendices 1 and 2 will be followed.

B.

Where the partner (identified as one well known, and with whom the partnership for AIT would be important and highly beneficial) insists on having the agreement in its own format/template, it must be ensured that the relevant contents in AIT’s agreement formats/templates are in the partnership agreement prepared based on the partner’s format/template.

PROCESSING The following guidelines are to be adhered to in the processing of partnership agreements.

1.

Each draft partnership agreement from an initiator should include (template is given in Appendix 3): a. b. c. d. e. f.

2.

a brief rationale indicating the standing/quality of the institution; background on any existing or previous collaboration with AIT; specific commitments required from involved parties; concrete activities planned to be undertaken under the agreement; expected outcomes from the planned activities; and information on the initiator.

Draft partnership agreements may be initiated by the Schools, other Responsibility Centers, other Units or by the Central Administration.

Page 2/4

AA-1-2-6: PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT DEFINITIONS, PROCESSING AND FINALIZATION

VI.

3.

Draft partnership agreements, initiated by whomsoever, should be sufficiently communicated to and discussed with relevant faculty and staff members [through the Dean’s office in the case of Schools, through the Director’s office in the case of Responsibility Centers (such as AIT Extension, AIT Solutions, and other Outreach Centers), and through the Unit Heads in the case of other Units] in the relevant Schools, Responsibility Centers, or Units.

4.

The draft agreements, whether MoU or MoA, have then to be communicated to the Director of the Office of International Affairs (OIA) to be further processed by the Officer in charge as described in the following points.

5.

Draft MoA will be reviewed by the relevant Schools, Responsibility Centers, Units, faculty and staff members, and officially endorsed by the School Deans, RC Directors, Unit Heads and the relevant Vice Presidents before being submitted to the President.

6.

AIT main contact person of the draft partnership agreement shall negotiate as much as possible for shared, if not full, Intellectual Property (IP) rights, and should not easily waive full IP rights.

7.

Where applicable, the agreed stipulation in case of an imbalance in the number of student exchanges with a partner Higher Education Institution (HEI), i.e. fee payment or offer of full scholarships (up to an equivalent amount of the benefits received by the student of the partner HEI), should be incorporated and strictly implemented.

8.

MoAs with student recruitment agents should not include any clause on exclusivity.

FINALIZATION AND SIGNATURE A.

The draft partnership agreement has to be reviewed by the AIT legal advisor, if deemed appropriate, by OIA, and by the President for finalization. Following their review, if modifications are warranted, the draft will be sent back to the initiator for incorporating the modifications and communicating them to the partner(s).

B.

Once the draft partnership agreement is finalized and agreed upon by the involved parties, it may be signed by the authorized officials of the involved parties as follows: 1.

The finalized agreement may be signed by AIT and sent to the partner(s) by mail for signature, or vice-versa.

2.

The finalized agreement may be signed in an official signing ceremony, either in AIT Campus or in the Partners’ premises.

3.

The original agreement has to be sent to OIA to be officially registered by AIT.

Page 3/4

AA-1-2-6: PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT DEFINITIONS, PROCESSING AND FINALIZATION

C.

The authorized signatories in the finalized agreement should be of equivalent level amongst the partners. In the case of AIT, where the signatory would be other than the President, the President must approve in writing the authority for signing on the agreement.

D.

Where the partnership agreement is prepared in a language other than English, there must be an English version signed by the Partners. The English version should normally override the non-English version, or at least be equally valid.

E.

Normally, the whole process of initiating, processing, finalizing and signing partnership agreements should not take more than 60 days.

F.

In no case without proper processing shall a partnership agreement be signed.

When a visiting partner delegation or the partner being visited insists on an immediate signing of a partnership agreement, the institute shall only sign a letter of intent, which may be followed by the processing of an appropriate partnership agreement. Exceptions may take place at the discretion of the President, who would decide whether to sign a partnership agreement on the spot without proper processing depending on the expected benefit for the institute.

1st Revision

Modification History:

Reviewed By:

2nd Revision

19 October 2010 AIT Governing Team: 15 March 2021 AIT Management Team: 30 March 2021; 18 April 2012 President’s Advisory Council: 9 January 2009, 17 October 2007 Academic Senate: 25 April 2012; 16 January 2008 Institute Education Council: October 2007 30 March 2021

Related Policies Keywords

Rationale for Revisions:

30 March 2021 • Very minor editorial changes to reflect administrative restructuring and actual process and practices. o Annex 1 MoU Template – Very minor editorial changes, and also removed a stipulation should an amicable solution cannot be reached to resolve disputes or misunderstandings that arise in the administration of the MoU/MoA. o Annex 2 MoA Template – Very minor editorial changes, and also removed a stipulation should an amicable solution cannot be reached to resolve disputes or misunderstandings that arise in the administration of the MoU/MoA. o Annex 3 Complementary Information for the MoU/MoA – Added a couple of necessary entries.

18 April 2012 • New management structure and additional processing guidelines • Revised MoU and MoA templates

Page 4/4