Academic Governance Unit

To codify the procedures that apply for developing and executing agreements between the Faculty of Business and Economics and international universities.

This procedure applies to all international agreements for the Faculty of Business and Economics (“the faculty”) across all campuses and schools in respect of any proposed or existing international agreements between the faculty and overseas institutions. There are three main parts to this process:

• Establishing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and/or student exchange
• Determining a credit transfer arrangement
• Finalising the agreement, contracts and related administration

The procedure set out in Part A must be followed for all agreements with an international University. The operational detail of the agreement is then finalised in Part B. The contractual detail of the agreement is finalised under Part C.

While the faculty is responsible for assessing the detail of the proposal, it is important to note that agreements are subject to overall University approval processes (refer sections 3 and 6 below). In particular:

• The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) (DVCGE) is responsible for approving agreements signed between Monash University and international institutions.
• The University’s Coursework Admissions and Scholarships Committee (CASC) notes all approved agreements that have an element of admission. This includes some credit arrangements.
• The faculty’s Admissions Credit and Transfer Committee (ACT) is responsible for approving credit assessments.

Part A: Developing an MOU/student exchange

1. Commencing the process – identifying a Faculty Champion

A staff member who would like to commence the process for entering into an agreement between an international university and the faculty must notify the International Project Coordinator who will coordinate the process. The staff member raising the proposal is thereafter referred to as the “Faculty Champion” for the proposal

2. Preliminary discussions and Faculty level in-principle endorsement of the relationship with the proposed institutional partner

2.1 The Faculty Champion completes the Faculty’s Proposal for International Agreement form and submits the completed form to the Faculty International Project Coordinator.

2.2 The International Project Coordinator undertakes an assessment of the proposed partner institution in accordance with faculty and University reputational and relevance criteria, and then seeks in-principle endorsement of the proposal from the faculty’s Deputy Dean Education.

2.3 If given in principle endorsement, the International Project Coordinator then completes the required University documentation and arranges for its endorsement by the Dean (or delegate).

3. University level in-principle approval by the DVC(Global Engagement) (DVCGE)

3.1 The International Project Coordinator submits the University documentation to the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) (ODVCGE) for review and in-principle approval by the DVCGE.

3.2 The ODVCGE notifies the International Project Coordinator of the outcome. Where in-principle approval is granted by the DVCGE, the faculty may then proceed to finalise the agreement in detail (refer Part B and/or Part C below).

Part B: Determining a credit arrangement

4. Preliminary scoping of credit transfer arrangement

4.1 The Faculty Champion is required to outline the scope of the credit transfer arrangement in general terms in the Faculty form (see 2.1 above). For example:

• is the agreement specific to a particular degree or set of degrees?
• is the agreement campus-specific? (Note: in the case of multi-campus degrees, agreements will not be campus-specific, unless explicitly stated otherwise.)
  

4.2 Admission and credit arrangements are subject to the approval of the Admission and Credit Transfer Committee (see section 5.2 below)

4.3 Sufficient course and unit information must be obtained from the proposed partner institution to enable the faculty to undertake an assessment of the proposed credit transfer arrangement.

4.4 The International Project Coordinator forwards the documentation to the Group Manager Student Services (or delegate) who reviews the unit materials supplied by the partner institution for potential credit and makes a recommendation to proceed with further investigation if considered appropriate, following the procedures outlined under sections 5 below.

5. Finalisation of Admission and Credit arrangements

5.1 The Group Manager, Student Services (or delegate) undertakes a full block credit assessment, confirms all admission requirements, then submits a completed Credit Table template to the Secretary of the Admission and Credit Transfer (ACT) Committee, who will arrange for its consideration by the committee.

5.2 Following ACT Committee approval, the International Project Coordinator submits a copy of the Credit Table to the Group Manager, Student Services for transmission to the University’s Coursework and Admissions and Scholarships Committee (CASC) for noting (where there is an element of admission) and facilitates the finalisation of the agreement following the procedures outlined under Part C below.

Part C: Finalising the agreement, contracts and related administration

6. Agreement Negotiation and Drafting

6.1 In consultation with the relevant parties, the International Project Coordinator develops the draft Agreement (using the relevant Solicitor approved, University template), appends the Credit Table (if applicable) and submits the final draft of the agreement to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) (ODVCGE) for review.

6.2 Once the form of the agreement has been endorsed by the DVCGE, the International Project Coordinator arranges for the agreement to be executed.

7. Agreement Execution

7.1 The International Project Coordinator arranges for the final agreement to be signed by the Dean and then sent to the relevant officer of the partner institution for signing and return.

7.2 The International Project Coordinator advises all parties once the agreement is fully signed.

8. Administration

The Faculty International Project Coordinator arranges for:

• One set of fully signed original documents to be sent to ODVC(GE) (who advise RMO and maintain the International Database) and one to each partner institution involved.
• The agreement to be recorded on TRIM.
• The agreement to be noted at the following ACT Committee meeting.
• The Credit Table to be forwarded to the Group Manager, Student Services for transmission to the Coursework and Admissions and Scholarships Committee (CASC) Secretary. (Refer to 5.2 above).

Deputy Dean Education
Associate Dean Learning and Teaching
Course Directors
Heads of Departments
Group Manager, Executive Services

Deputy Dean Education
Associate Dean Learning and Teaching
Course Directors
Heads of Departments
Manager, Academic Services
Academic staff