In February, Auburn University adopted a new policy on international agreements to reduce risk and ensure proper oversight to protect all of Auburn’s interests while also archiving agreements to allow for university-wide leverage of international relationships.

Under the new policy, all proposed partnerships and agreements must be approved by a college’s dean (or equivalent in units outside a college) and then submitted by the dean to the international agreements committee for review before any negotiations about an agreement or contract may take place with the proposed partner. Submitting this proposal as early as possible helps ensure the rest of the process can unfold in a timely manner. Once the proposal has been approved by the committee, the college or unit may negotiate an agreement document, which must be submitted to the committee again for final review before signatures are obtained.

The new agreement approval process includes all relationships with non-U.S. entities, including but not limited to memorandums of understanding, grant proposals, contracts, nondisclosure agreements, statements of work, nonbinary agreements, liability agreements or other agreements related to contractual, legal or other types of obligations.

For more information about the international agreements process, please visit the Office of International Programs website or e-mail intlagree@auburn.edu.

(Written by Jenn Mason )