Institutional & Faculty International Collaboration (IFIC)

The office of Institutional & Faculty International Collaboration (IFIC) serves as the central clearinghouse for all formal linkages and contractual agreements between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and any foreign institutions. These linkages and agreements cover faculty and student exchange programs, collaborative research agreements, non-reciprocal study abroad programs, and general cooperative relationships. Although such agreements are often initiated by individual colleges, academic units, laboratories, or service units throughout our campus, all international links and agreements should be recorded in the office of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration; this is particularly important for any exchange programs involving sending students abroad or receiving students from abroad. As the central administrative unit in charge of international agreements, we work with academic units and foreign partners wishing to establish (or renew) a formal international link by:

• advising faculty and departments during the initial stages of inquiry;
• issuing a series of guidelines for establishing new international links;
• maintaining a series of "boilerplate" international contracts, with standardized formats and wording that have been approved by University Legal Counsel and other relevant administrative units
• drafting, negotiating, and revising the actual contract used to establish a formal international link;
• guiding the draft contract through a campus-wide internal review process;
• routing the approved contract for final signatures and distribution;
• maintaining extensive files of past and present international links;
• compiling and maintaining a database of all international agreements currently active or pending at the University of Illinois

 

General Agreement Guidelines

Any UIUC campus unit or faculty member may initiate an exchange agreement; however, we strongly encourage consultation with the Office of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration prior to any preliminary discussions to develop a draft exchange agreement with an overseas institution. For agreements proposing to establish student exchange programs, a consultation with the Study Abroad Office is also required. To ensure that maximum mutual benefit will result from such cooperation, there should first be an objective evaluation of the following aspects of the quality of the potential exchange partner:

• The general quality and resources, and academic standing of the potential partner
• The potential for institutional support within UIUC for the exchange program
• The potential interest among UIUC students (for proposed student exchange agreements)
• The campus-wide advantage of the proposed exchange
• The overall value of the linkage with regard to the university's strategic initiatives for international activity

 

Establishing a New Agreement

Before entering into formal negotiation with the proposed partner institution, the UIUC campus unit or faculty member desiring to initiate a new exchange should consult with the Director of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration regarding issues cited below:

• The general scope of the proposed cooperation
• Specific area/fields of cooperation
• Aspects of mutual responsibility
• Financial arrangements and services provided
• Intellectual property issues that may arise as a result of collaborative research under the auspices of the proposed cooperation
• Terms of the proposed exchange agreement and its renewal and termination

Campus units or faculty members wishing to establish a new international agreement should first complete the Application to Establish an Exchange Agreement with a Foreign Institution and submit it to the office of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration prior to an initial consultation with the director.

The Director of IFIC will provide assistance for drafting the exchange agreement and, when desirable, for negotiating the terms of the agreement with the potential overseas partner. When the draft exchange agreement has been completed and approved by the sponsoring unit and the foreign partner, the Director of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration will submit it to the relevant units for department- and college-level approvals.

 

Finalizing and Signing an Agreement

In order for any agreement between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a foreign institution to be valid, it must be signed by:

• The chancellor of the Urbana-Champaign campus
• The Secretary of the Board of Trustees, or a duly appointed proxy
• The Comptroller of the University of Illinois, or a duly appointed proxy
• The Office of University Counsel

Generally, we ask that the foreign partner sign the final Agreements first. The University of Illinois requires two signed original Agreement prints; one is archived in the office of Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration (IFIC), and the second is kept on file in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Administration (OSPRA). Foreign partners may request as many signed original prints of the final Agreement as they require.