UWM’s partnerships with academic and research institutions around the world are formalized through a variety of inter-institutional agreements.

Some of these agreements are general and even exploratory, whereas others are more precise and prescriptive. Regardless of their differences, all agreements are intended to foster collaborative activities between UWM and its partners and, by doing so, advance each institution’s international goals.

General

Memorandum of Intent (MOI)

Description: Low-level commitment to explore opportunities for collaboration.

Approval & Considerations:

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Description: Low-level commitment to explore opportunities for collaboration.

Approval & Considerations:

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Note:
The MOI and the MOU are agreements to explore opportunities for collaboration. While they typically reference academic collaborations such as student exchanges, they are not intended to serve as the basis for enacting a formal collaboration involving a commitment of institutional resources. Any formal academic collaboration must be established through a more detailed, follow-up agreement.

Study Abroad

Study Abroad Affiliation

Description: Denotes UWM faculty pre-approval of an overseas study program for UWM study abroad credit.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Requires a department’s or academic program’s endorsement of the program and agreement to award credit for studies undertaken.
  • Cost, course offerings, language of instruction, and availability of internship placements are significant considerations when gauging UWM student demand.
  • Faculty/departmental sponsorship helps ensure quality of educational experience and course equivalencies.
  • Provides assurance to students that they will receive UWM credit for their overseas studies.
  • May provide formal program cost discount or access to program’s scholarships for UWM students.
  • Arrangements must be established under the auspices of the Center for International Education to ensure oversight of all administrative and risk management issues.

Contact: Sharon Gosz, CIE, schetney@uwm.edu

Student Exchange

Description: Reciprocal arrangement in which UWM students study at a partner institution and the partner’s students study at UWM for up to one year.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • May be at the departmental, school/college, or campus level.
  • May involve undergraduate and/or graduate students.
  • Outgoing UWM students pay UWM tuition to offset costs of incoming partner institution’s students. Cost comparison should assess UWM students’ costs enrolling as a tuition-paying study abroad student at the institution, as foreign tuition rates are often lower than UWM’s and study abroad affiliation may be preferable to exchange.
  • Exchanges must balance or may be frozen or cancelled.
  • UWM student demand considerations include language of instruction and size of UWM student pool possessing necessary language skills, alignment of UWM and partner’s academic programs, total cost, location, student services.
  • Helpful to establish agreement on UWM/partner course equivalencies.
  • Faculty/departmental engagement helps ensure quality of educational experience, strong relationship with partner institution.
  • Provides assurance to students that they will receive UWM credit for their overseas studies.
  • Arrangements must be established under the auspices of the Center for International Education to ensure oversight of all administrative and risk management issues.

Contact: Sharon Gosz, CIE, schetney@uwm.edu

Overseas Internship

Description: Denotes UWM faculty pre-approval of overseas internship program for UWM academic credit.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Requires a department’s or academic program’s endorsement of the program and agreement to award credit for studies undertaken.
  • Requires a plan for academic oversight over the internship, either through the partner academic institution or through UWM faculty.
  • Faculty/departmental sponsorship helps ensure quality of educational experience.
  • Provides assurance to students that they will receive UWM credit for their overseas internship.
  • May provide formal program cost discount or access to program’s scholarships for UWM students.
  • Arrangements must be established under the auspices of the Center for International Education to ensure oversight of all administrative and risk management issues.

Contact: Sharon Gosz, CIE, schetney@uwm.edu

Enrollment

General Admissions

Description: Explains UWM admissions processes and establishes agreement that UWM and the partner will work together to encourage the partner’s students to apply to UWM.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Typically but not necessarily campus level; may be specific to a school/college or program.
  • Partner may be a high school or undergraduate institution seeking to strengthen enrollment pathways for their graduates.
  • Agreements specify existing UWM admissions processes and policies.
  • Students must apply through regular UWM admissions process.
  • Students of partners in undergraduate Admissions and Dual Degree agreements qualify to apply for UWM’s Global Partners Scholarships.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Sequential Degree

Description: Formalized arrangement in which students earn a specified degree at a partner institution then apply to, enroll in, and complete a second, related program at UWM. Courses from the first program may be used to waive requirements in the UWM program.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Students are required to meet all UWM program and degree requirements.
  • May be appropriate for graduate and professional programs.
  • Program admission requirements may be set to require that the student has completed the first degree in the sequence at the partner institution.
  • Differs from Dual Degree arrangement in that no reciprocal transfer of credit occurs; students transfer credit from the first institution to UWM.
  • Requirements for approval vary depending on details.
  • Systematic sequential degree partnerships in which all students are labeled as participating in an identifiable program require authorization of program faculty, school/college dean, institutional governance, provost, and chancellor. System or Regent approval may be required.
  • As long as all UWM admission and program/degree requirements are met and the program faculty maintain control of the curriculum and program requirements, no academic approvals are required by external agencies such as the Higher Learning Commission.
  • Resulting new programs would be subject to standard accreditation review/requirements.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Dual Degree

Description: Students complete the requirements for two degrees from two institutions, with efficiencies in course taking due to transfers of credits.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Each institution is primarily responsible for its own degree.
  • Applicable to undergraduate and graduate level collaborations.
  • Same result could be achieved through Credit Transfer Agreement.
  • Partner institution’s students must apply and enroll at UWM through regular UWM admissions process. They are considered UWM students during the time they are enrolled at UWM.
  • Helpful to establish agreement on course equivalencies between UWM and partner.
  • Requirements for approval vary depending on details.
  • If the dual degree is developed as a new program that does not make use of an existing UWM program authorization, then the process for new program approval is followed.
  • Faculty and governance responsibility for the UWM program remains with UWM.
  • Undergraduate students enrolling at UWM as degree-seeking students under a dual degree partnership may be eligible to apply for UWM Global Partners Scholarships.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Joint Degree

Description: A single degree authorized and conferred by two or more partner institutions; faculty, governance groups, governance boards share authority.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Not readily put in place at UWM. Currently no capacity to develop joint degrees at UW System institutions.
  • The shared, overlapping governance of a program with another university or college makes these programs especially challenging to establish.
  • Requires authorization of program faculty, school/college dean, institutional governance, provost, chancellor, UW System Administration, Board of Regents, and Higher Learning Commission. Also requires approvals through the partner institution. For international joint degrees, approvals from national-level agencies that oversee higher education in the partner’s country may be required.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Credit Transfer

Description: Recognizes the equivalency of specific courses at one institution to the corresponding courses at UWM.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with Chancellor or Provost.
  • Deans may serve as secondary signatories.
  • Appropriate for arrangements under which degree-seeking students from the partner institution enroll at UWM.
  • UWM restrictions on numbers of transfer credits that may be used toward degrees apply. E.g., for graduate students, transfer credits may constitute no more than 40% of credit earned toward a UWM degree. Undergraduates must complete last 30 credits of coursework at UWM to meet residency requirement.
  • Incoming students are still required to undergo transfer credit review in accordance with UWM policies.
  • The credit transfer review process is readily available to all degree-seeking UWM students and therefore does not require a formal agreement.
  • An agreement may nevertheless be beneficial in that it can facilitate the enrollment at UWM of partner institution students.
  • Credit Transfer Agreements are also helpful components of Dual Degree and Joint Degree Agreements.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

UWM as Study Abroad Site

Description: The partner institution’s students attend UWM as participants in a non-degree study program for up to one year. *

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with UWM Chancellor or Provost.
  • Typically at the program level.
  • May be undergraduate or graduate level.
  • Students enroll at UWM as tuition-paying special students and transfer UWM coursework back to their home institution at the end of their period of study.
  • Sponsoring UWM program is strongly encouraged to participate in informational programming at the partner institution and provide student support services to ensure future enrollments under the program.
  • * New visa requirements in 2015 carry implications for program curricula; please consult with CIE early in discussions.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Teaching/Research

Faculty Exchange

Description: Reciprocal arrangement in which UWM faculty may teach or conduct research at a partner institution and the partner’s faculty may teach or conduct research at UWM.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with UWM Chancellor or Provost.
  • Typically at the program or department level.
  • Practical considerations include primary objective and duration of visits, compensation, housing, dependents’ issues, health insurance, and financial commitments of the partners.
  • Potential for such collaboration exists through UWM’s Exchange Visitor (J-Visa) Program, managed by the Center for International Education.
  • UWM does not currently have a formal faculty exchange agreement in place to serve as guide.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Off-Campus Program or Course Location

Description: UWM courses are taught by UWM faculty and staff who are physically present at the remote site.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with UWM Chancellor or Provost.
  • Scale of such initiatives varies from single courses taught by UWM as visiting faculty to offering of partial degree programs at off-campus sites.
  • Delivery of more than four UWM courses a year or more than half of program requirements at the off-campus location requires special approvals by external agencies under US Department of Education regulations.
  • Appropriate when UWM faculty seek to deliver a program at a site away from the UWM campus to the population at that remote site.
  • Differs from study abroad in that the intended audience for these programs is the population at the remote site.
  • Program must use UWM curriculum. Instructors must have UWM instructional appointment and employ UWM infrastructure, policies, processes. Students are subject to UWM student policies.
  • Realistic planning for all costs is essential.
  • May require consultation with accrediting boards.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Distance Education Collaboration

Description: UWM courses are delivered by UWM faculty and staff to partner’s students via distance technology.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority resides with UWM Chancellor or Provost.
  • New courses require regular course approvals.
  • Program delivery of full academic programs requires authorization in accordance with new program review/approval policies.
  • Managed through regular UWM distance education arrangements.

Contact: Laura Pedrick, Provost’s Office, lpedrick@uwm.edu;
Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu

Collaborative Course or Program Resource Sharing

Description: UWM and partner leverage institutional strengths in sharing curricular and educational resources.

Approval & Considerations:

  • Signature authority depends on the nature of the agreement.
  • Types of collaborations vary widely and may require an agreement tailored to the specific collaboration.
  • Requirements for approval vary depending on agreement details.
  • Examples (among others) may include:
    o Faculty supervision of a graduate student;
    o Course sharing or joint instructional arrangements;
    o Sharing of advising of doctoral students;
    o Library/resource access agreement between institutions.

Contact: Tracy Buss, CIE, tbuss@uwm.edu