An LOI is a basic agreement between Missouri S&T and the international partner that signifies a mutual friendship and indicates both parties’ intent to establish collaborative activities.

A MOAC, sometimes referred to as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), is an agreement that covers broad objectives in the spirit of promoting intellectual cooperation and international understanding. A MOAC may also include student exchange, faculty and staff exchange, joint research activities, joint organization of seminars and academic meetings, exchange of academic materials, joint organization of special academic and non-academic programs, and publication of the results of collaborative research projects. A MOAC does not include specific details of the collaboration, but can serve as the foundation for developing future, more specific agreements.

1. Student Exchange: A Student Exchange Appendix to the MOAC allows students to attend an international institution while paying tuition and fees to the home institution. The appendix outlines modes of collaboration, coordination, reciprocity, and other details pertinent to student exchange. When exploring new student exchange opportunities, faculty sponsors should consider the following:
   
   
   1. Relevance to Missouri S&T degree programs.
   2. How the partner institution’s academic calendar aligns with Missouri S&T's calendar.
   3. How the faculty member can actively support or promote the exchange program to generate activity, as well as achieve parity.
   4. If the proposed international partner offers safety orientation programs for incoming students, well-being checks, sufficient student support service, etc.
      
      
2. Research: Once the MOAC is established, faculty may wish to pursue a Memorandum of Understanding for Research through the Office of Sponsored Programs. The purpose of this agreement is to establish a particular research agreement with a partner institution. It specifies obligations of both institutions and is subject to a higher level of scrutiny, U.S. export controls, etc.

In addition to the agreements above, two types of agreements are available for establishing degree programs with an international partner institution.  After the MOAC is established, departments or schools may wish to develop joint or dual degree programs.  These partnership agreements are not affiliated with student exchange; student participants or their sponsors pay tuition and fees directly to Missouri S&T. The agreements include the following:

1. International Cooperative Academic Program Agreement (CAP): This agreement leads to a bachelor’s degree from the international partner institution and a master’s degree from Missouri S&T. Program participants must complete three years of study at the international partner institution and one year or more of study at Missouri S&T, which leads to the bachelor’s degree from the international partner institution (3+1+1). Upon satisfactory completion of the bachelor’s degree, qualified students will go on to participate in a Missouri S&T graduate program, which will result in a master’s degree from Missouri S&T. Contact Enrollment Management for assistance with a CAP agreement.
   
   
2. Articulation Agreement: This basic agreement provides students the opportunity to begin coursework at the international partner institution and complete a bachelor’s degree at Missouri S&T. Participating students must complete at least one year of coursework at the international partner institution, and complete at least the final 60 credit hours at Missouri S&T (as stipulated in the Transfer Agreement). Curriculum guides are developed by Transfer Admissions to ensure seamless transfer between institutions. Student participants are subject to all existing requirements for admission (e.g. GPA, TOEFL/IELTS).  Contact Admissions for assistance with an articulation agreement.

• Institutional - A comprehensive institutional agreement reflects a formal understanding between individual institutions or groups of institutions (consortia).
  
  
• Departmental/Collegiate - An agreement with a specific department or college within a partner institution that may involve faculty, student, and collaborative research and/or other scholarly activities.
  
  
• Individual – Informal collaboration between individual S&T faculty and their international colleagues do not include any formal agreement.

International agreements should address one or more of the following:

• Institutional prestige and reputation (by affiliation)
• Student benefit (e.g. student recruitment, internship opportunities, study abroad)
• Research opportunities
• Effective public relations goodwill efforts

To ensure compliance with applicable U.S. Export Control regulations, faculty members who sponsor international agreements are required to acknowledge/sign a “Restrictive Clause.” For more information, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

When deciding whether to include  a request for student exchange in your agreement, please consider the following:

• Parity – For budgeting purposes, it is important to maintain a balance between the number of incoming and outgoing students.   The tuition and academic fees paid by the outgoing exchange students pay for the tuition and academic fees for the inbound exchange students.    
• Student interest and recruitment – Students look for exchange opportunities that offer classes in English that can be transferred back to Missouri S&T and count toward degree requirements.  Location, cost, academic calendar, and travel opportunities are also often important.
• Faculty involvement – The most successful student exchange agreements have one or more faculty members who promote the exchange in class and when advising students, as well as participating in study abroad fairs, information sessions, and other recruiting activities.
• Support for students at the partner university – A partner university should have staff available to assist students.
• Student safety - Student safety is a top priority at Missouri S&T. All requests for student exchange should comply with the Student International Travel Policy.