Establishing or Renewing a Faculty Cooperation for a Student Exchange Agreements (SEA)

• Faculty/Institute wants to cooperate with a partner university abroad for an Exchange Student Agreement (SEA)
• Partner University abroad wants to cooperate with a faculty for an Exchange Student Agreement (SEA)
• The faculty cooperation coordinator at KIT contacts the contract coordinator IStO (NTL) to check whether a direct cooperation with the partner university abroad already exists
• Draft a cooperation agreement (Step “Contract Drafting”)

2. Renewal of an existing Faculty Cooperation

• Coordinator of the faculty cooperation at KIT reviews whether there is an interest of renewing the cooperation
  • If no: Agreement expires or is terminated by the faculty/institute
  • If yes: The coordinator of the faculty cooperation reviews whether there is an interest in renewing the contract from sides of the partner university abroad. If so continue with Step “Contract Drafting”

Steps for the coordinator of the faculty cooperation at KIT

1. Contact the contract coordinator IStO (INTL) at KIT to discuss whether a faculty cooperation is needed

2. The legal department at KIT has a standard template for Student Exchange Agreements, please refer to these and avoid exceptions

3. Edit the yellow marked parts in the template. Do not change section 2, paragraph 3.2 and 4.1. If there are changes needed, contact the Overseas Incoming Coordinator (Gelsomina Di Laurenzio).

4. Fill out the memo template and send the draft agreement to the partner university abroad

5. When the partner university sends back the draft:

- Coordinator reviews their comments and contacts the partner university abroad

- Repeat until both sides agree

The contract coordinator at IStO may review the updated draft

  - Asking the partner university for the contact person and address to send the signed contract, plus a phone number for express shipping

6. If there are changes in the contract draft at step 3:

- Minor changes can be handled by the faculty coordinator

- Major changes will be handled by the DE HAA, please send them the changed contract with the comments and the completed Memo template

7. If the contract was not sent to HAA or the legal department (as in step 4.1), email the SEA to Oliver Wittek (Foreign Trade Law) for approval

8. Request from the Faculty Cooperation Coordinator at KIT to the partner university abroad asking whether the SEA can be signed after the changes have been made

- If yes: Partner university abroad signs SEA and sent two copies by mail to the coordinator of the faculty cooperation at KIT (digital signatures will not be accepted)

- If no: Go back to step 3

1. The SEA, already signed by the partner university abroad, is signed in two copies by the Dean of the faculty at KIT

2. The Faculty Cooperation Coordinator at KIT sends the SEA in two copies to the contract coordinator of INTL-TdL at KIT via internal mail, and also sends a PDF version of the SEA and the completed memo template (as a Word document) by email

3. The contract coordinator from IStO (INTL) at KIT forwards the two SEA copies and the memo to INTL-TdL via internal mail and email

4. INTL-TdL forwards the SEA (in two copies) and the memo to the KIT Presidium for signature

5. The Presidium signs both copies of the SEA and returns them to INTL-TdL

1. Head Office Team (INTL-TdL)

a. The signed SEA is scanned and saved in the designated folder on the "internationale-verträge" (international contracts) drive

b. The memo is processed and also saved on the "internationale-verträge" drive

c. One copy of the signed SEA is forwarded to the Faculty Cooperation Coordinator for forward it to the partner university abroad per mail

d. The second copy and the memo are sent via internal mail to the Registry (KIT Library, Mr. Christian Bender) for archiving

f. INTL-TdL informs the contract coordinator of IStO (INTL), the Legal Department (RECHT), the Registry (KIT Library), and the Faculty Cooperation Coordinator about the SEA storage via email (with the SEA and memo attached as PDF documents)

2. The Faculty Cooperation Coordinator at KIT sends the signed SEA to the partner university abroad

3. Contract coordinator IStO (INTL):

a. Adds the new contract duration to the Excel sheet “Direktkooperationen/Fachkooperationen” (direct cooperation/faculty cooperation) in the folder “internationale-verträge/Controlling Verträge” (international agreements/contract controlling)

b. Notifies the Overseas Coordinators at IStO (INTL), ICoP (INTL), and the Faculty Cooperation Coordinator about the contract conclusion.