Memorandum Of Understanding

An international Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a general nonbinding statement of intent to cooperate and explore joint academic activities with a partner institution not located within the United States.

Rice supports high-quality international collaborations, and thus encourages MOUs which enable faculty, departments, other academic units, and schools to explore possible long-term collaborations with peer universities.

The International Operations Committee has been created, in part, to support and oversee the creation of robust and effective MOUs. The following instructions are meant to facilitate and clarify MOU development. Committee Chair Caroline Levander (clevande@rice.edu) is available for consultation during any stage of the process. In addition, please e-mail Global office at global@rice.edu for help.

The university provides a general template that was developed by the Office of the Legal Counsel. Click here to download the template. All proposed MOUs will also be reviewed by the Office of Research Security.

Instructions

1. Discuss the proposed MOU with your department chair and dean to confirm their support. (A letter of decanal support is required)

2. If possible utilize the approved MOU template, sending to partner institution for review and comments. Complete areas in yellow and save as a draft.

Note: If the partner institution requests that its MOU template be used, or if they request changes to the terms in the Rice template, in depth legal and operational review is required and approval will take longer.

If the standard Rice MOU template is used:

... and the intent is a non-binding exploratory agreement, you may proceed and:

3. Email the MOU draft and required information to global@rice.edu for review, cc'ing your department chair, school dean or any individual with decision-making authority for your unit. Include:

• The reason you are requesting the MOU
• A brief letter of support from your dean outlining the strategic value of the proposed collaboration.
• The name and rank of your contact/s at the partner institution.
• The name, rank, and contact information of the MOU signatory at the partner institution.
• Your ideal timeline for MOU signature, including any dependencies which affect the timeline (e.g. pending funding, visa documentation, etc.)

4. The International Operations Committee will review your proposal and schedule a short presentation to the committee at an upcoming monthly IOC meeting.

5. International MOUs are signed by the President or designee. Upon receiving approval from the IOC, the Rice Global office will route each MOU electronically for signature (unless the partner institution requires a hard copy). An executed copy will be sent to all signatories and MOU requestor.

If the standard MOU template CANNOT be used

... the partner institution has requested changes to the Rice template, or the intent goes beyond a non-binding agreement (student exchanges, academic programs or other binding terms), please:

3. Email the MOU draft and required information to global@rice.edu for review, cc'ing your department chair, school dean or any individual with decision-making authority for your unit. Include:

• Email the reason for the proposed MOU
• Explain why the standard template cannot be used and include the proposed template or deviation from Rice terms
• A brief letter of support from your dean outlining the strategic value of the proposed collaboration.
• The name and rank of your contact/s at the partner institution.
• The name, rank, and contact information of the MOU signatory at the partner institution.
• Your ideal timeline for MOU signature, including any dependencies which affect the timeline (e.g. pending funding, visa documentation, etc.)

4. The Rice Global office will route the proposed MOU to the Office of the General Counsel for review.

5. The International Operations Committee will review your proposal and schedule a short presentation to the committee at an upcoming monthly IOC meeting.

6. International MOUs are signed by the President or designee. All non-standard MOUs have to be reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel and assessed by International Operations Committee. Upon receiving approval from the IOC, the Rice Global office will route each MOU electronically for signature (unless the partner institution requires a hard copy). An executed copy will be sent to all signatories and MOU requestor.

The process for MOU-request-to-signature can take 2-3 months to complete, and longer if non-standard templates are used or if the request falls during summer months. The IOC meets monthly during the academic year and will do its best to schedule MOU reviews as quickly as possible.

Please contact global@rice.edu for any questions about MOUs, at any time or point in the process.