International Partnership Development

Types of Agreements

An international agreement (Memorandum of Agreement or MOA) is a binding and legal document following WCU and PASSHE conventions, formalizing the terms of collaboration between West Chester University and its counterpart abroad. International agreements should follow the principles and protocols for establishing international partnerships and are typically valid for three or five years.

Memorandums of Agreement can often include various elements and or may be developed with very specific intent or more general levels of cooperation. For example, an MOA might be developed with a specific goal of student exchange or with the specific goal to articulate programs such as degree program completion (2 + 2) or dual degrees. MOA’s may serve the purpose of indicating a more initial or broad-based partnership with a mutual interest in building more detailed agreements or levels of partnership at a later date. MOA’s can serve both teaching, research, and other broad objectives.

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Template

Generally speaking, WCU avoids using the term Memorandum of Understanding. Moreover, MOA’s should not be confused with more formal business and contracting agreements which generally focus on short term and one-off contracts to support an international project (study abroad program or other specific program services). Please visit WCU Business and Contract services for information.

Main Areas of Focus for MOA's

Student Exchange Program Agreement

Student exchange program agreements establish the structure for WCU students to enroll full time at a comparable international institution, while an equal number of students from the international institution enroll full time at WCU. If approved, students may register and pay tuition at WCU while enrolling with an international institution during a fall or spring semester (or whole year). Student exchange program agreements allow students to strengthen foreign language and intercultural competence, while pursuing academic credit internationally.

Student exchange program agreements generally must meet the following guidelines:

• Over a five-year period or the period of the student exchange program agreement (whichever is shorter), the number of exchange students in-bound and out-bound must balance to zero.
• The partner institution must offer sufficient transferrable coursework to WCU students to transfer credit into the WCU curriculum.
• The admission process and academic calendars of WCU and the partner institution must allow students to participate in the exchange. Consideration should be given to deadlines, guidelines, procedures, housing and insurance information, and orientations.

Example: Hosei University in Tokyo Japan

For WCU link: Hosei University in Tokyo Japan

Agreement of Cooperation

Recommended for an initial or general partnership. Agreements of cooperation or memoranda of understanding state the intent between WCU and a comparable international institution to cooperate in teaching and research activities of mutual interest. These agreements usually follow the standard template of MOA’s but exclude the student exchange sections.

Articulation Agreements

Recommended for a more detailed partnership. Articulation agreements often serve as a foundation for future program agreements between WCU and a comparable international institution. Affiliation agreements often include details about collaborative research projects, exchange of publications, reports, academic information, collaborative academic development and other activities as mutually agreed. They can also include very specific types of degree program and dual degree programs. These are briefly noted here: