Guidelines for Global Collaborations and International Agreements

To process requests for agreements (new or renewals), Global Collaborations utilizes a proposal mechanism based on a two-pronged approach for agreements initiation.

• Faculty champions requesting an international agreement must fill out and submit the Intent to Submit an International Agreement Proposal (IS-IAP) form. The form will ask for basic information about the intended partner’s institution, contact information, and the nature of anticipated collaborative activities.
• No Letter of Support is needed at this time; however, evidence of communication (such as email) with the Dean's/Chancellor's office or your international programs office is required to demonstrate their awareness and support of the proposed collaboration.
• Global Collaborations will review the request and determine whether additional details are needed.

For standard, Penn State template-based agreements, the decision to proceed with drafting may be made based on the information contained in this Intent to Submit application and the submission of the full proposal may not be required.

For program-specific, custom agreements, or when non-Penn State templates are used, a faculty champion will be invited to submit the more detailed International Agreement Proposal (IAP) application. The full IAP requests a Letter of Support (“reference letter”) from academic leadership (Dean, Chancellor, or their designees) as part of the submission.

In either case, upon the Global Programs assessment of the received application, an international agreements administrator will contact the applicant regarding the next steps in the draft preparation, review, and approval process.

Upon acceptance of the IAP, Global Collaborations will prepare a draft, share it with the faculty champion, negotiate it with the international institution, and coordinate its review and approval by the appropriate Penn State regulatory offices. Once all approvals have been gathered, Global Collaborations will initiate the e-signing flow using Adobe Sign. Review the Approval and Signing Process for more details.

Concluding an agreement can take a considerable amount of time, depending on the complexity of any legal or academic issues arising out of the planned activity. Any deadlines, such as grant deadlines or dates for signing ceremonies, should be clearly communicated to Global Collaborations via email intlagreements@psu.edu or by phone (814) 865-0771 well in advance of deadlines.

Global Collaborations has a variety of agreement templates that are updated regularly. Colleges and campuses are strongly encouraged to use drafts provided by Global Collaborations based on approved templates. Deviations from approved templates, use of out-of-date Penn State templates, and/or processing drafts provided by an international partner may prolong the approval process.