International Partnerships and Agreements

1. Discussion: Any potential collaboration should begin with a discussion between a Faculty of Medicine representative and the potential partner. The International and Global Health Office (IGHO) may be involved in these discussions or in advising you on the best form of collaboration.
2. Proposal: To be able to better evaluate your proposal, please complete and submit the Proposal for Partnerships form.
3. Evaluation: The IGHO will seek clarification if required and present the proposal to the Faculty of Medicine’s Advisory Committee for Internationalization (ACI). The committee will consider the proposal by using the following evaluation criteria and render its recommendation to the Faculty’s Executive Leadership team for a decision:

• Alignment and value proposition to the Faculty of Medicine Strategic direction
• Alignment with the University of Ottawa International strategy
• Benefits to Faculty stakeholders (Students, Faculty, Staff)
• Risks and adherence to ethical standards
• Financial impact (funding mechanism, anticipated expenses and/or revenues)

1. Choosing the right type of agreement: There are several kinds of agreements, most lasting for an initial period of three to five years. The IGHO will provide recommendations on the type of agreement template to build the agreement from:
   • Letter of intent: A non-binding signed document outlining and confirming the preliminary desire to form a partnership and intention to provide deliverables or act on specified plans.
   • Collaborative educational program: an agreement for parties to collaboratively develop educational programs to train international medical students, clinicians, researchers or staff on specific topics.
   • Consortium: A group of partners (for example, universities, other postsecondary institutions and administrative entities) taking part in a joint project.
   • International exchange and/or elective agreements: Academic agreement enabling students nd/or Faculty members from uOttawa and partner universities to do international elective at the other university and its affiliated hospitals and health care centers. This can be a standalone or an annex to a memorandum of understanding between partner institutions.
   • Memorandum of understanding (MoU): A broad agreement between two or more parties outlining a range of possible areas for collaboration. It can be faculty-wide or specific to a department, program or school. Though not usually legally binding itself, an MoU is often accompanied by an appendix that is legally binding and commits to specific activities, such as student or faculty mobility, as well as including details pertaining to operational matters and the parties’ responsibilities.
   • Research agreement: The main agreement or an appendix to a memorandum of understanding specifying details related to joint research projects between partner institutions.
2. Drafting the agreement: If the proposal is approved, the IGHO collaborates with the individuals  concerned to develop a draft agreement. The IGHO uses uOttawa standardized templates whenever possible. A template provided by the prospective partner can be used when deemed appropriate.
3. Negotiating and finalizing the agreement text: The IGHO and the concerned individuals negotiate the agreement with the proposed partner. This usually involves several rounds of discussion.
4. Translation (if applicable): Although there are standardized templates available in English and French, new agreements may require translation. For languages other than English or French, the partner institution must prepare the translation. Agreements with an English or French version and a version in another language must stipulate that the English or French version is the authoritative.
5. Governance and signing: Most agreements must be signed by a Faculty leadership member or uOttawa central administration, according to the procedure outlined by the Office of the President. Signing authorities vary, depending on the scope of the collaboration. They may include the president, the provost and vice-president, academic, the secretary-general and the appropriate dean or vice-dean.  IGHO will assist with this process and organize a signing ceremony if required.

   Signatories do not have to be the same for both parties.  A partner may have fewer, more or different signatories than uOttawa. The uOttawa signatories included in an agreement provided by the IGHO cannot be changed without prior authorization from the uOttawa governing authorities.

6. Archiving: All agreements are to archived in the central Faculty International agreement database.

1. Roles and planning: Different parties may be responsible for implementing the agreement. Administrative, academic and strategic responsibilities will depend on the scope of the agreement and parties involved.
2. Communication: Ongoing communication between all parties is essential to the success of a new collaboration. The parties implementing the collaboration must disseminate information and promote the collaboration to the relevant audiences.
3. Monitoring: The IGHO and the concerned department or unit at the Faculty must monitor implementation of the agreement.

Collaboration continues past the signing and launch of an agreement. The parties responsible must manage the collaboration throughout the term of the agreement.

1. Recording: Whoever is responsible for implementing the agreement must maintain quantitative and qualitative records of the collaboration, covering matters such as Faculty mobility, the use of resources and the experiences of participants.
2. Relationship management and monitoring: It is important to maintain contact with the partner, to share and collect feedback and to determine any required changes. The implementation plan should name the parties responsible for relationship management. 

It is important to evaluate the collaboration, short, medium and long term. The IGHO will provide guidance with this process.

• Short term: What were the immediate results of the collaboration? Include quantitative and qualitative aspects.
• Medium term: Did students, faculty or the University at large benefit or suffer because of the collaboration?  
• Long term: What results have been achieved (or should be expected) for the faculty, University, or community at large?

Any decision regarding renewing an agreement or creating similar agreements in the future must take into account the evaluation results.