The Office of the President at the American University of Armenia (AUA) is responsible for the execution and administration of agreements and academic partnership legal documents, including but not limited to Memoranda of Understanding, grant agreements, and letters of intent, between AUA and other universities, governments, and private sector or non-profit institutions. 

The Provost's office facilitates and maintains all formal written agreements of an academic nature between AUA and other entities. 

The review and approval process of the agreements is executed through the AUA Document Flow System (1C) and may take up to five (5) business days.

This policy is applicable to all faculty members who initiate a proposal for an agreement, and, if such a proposal is approved, to the appropriate Dean as well. 

No AUA faculty member or official of any unit or program may commit or agree to commit University resources to another party, such as a university, non-profit institution or public/private entity for any academic or research purpose except in accordance with the terms of a duly approved and executed Agreement as prescribed below. 

Initiation of a proposal for an agreement

Faculty members seeking to enter into an Agreement may initiate the process by submitting a proposal to be reviewed and approved by the appropriate Dean.

Required approvals  

Once a proposal for an Agreement, MoU or Letter of intent has been endorsed by the appropriate Dean, the proposal will be reviewed by the appropriate campus units, and the proposal and its budget shall be reviewed and approved by AUA Administration, in particular by the Provost and the President, and if relevant, by the COO and CFO, and by the AUA Legal Counselor.¹ The Provost office (or the Provost designee) will facilitate the routing and approval process.

The review and approval process of the package is executed through the AUA Document Flow System (1C) and may take up to five (5) business days.

While documents are under review, colleges, units or faculty members may not make any informal or formal, oral or written commitment of University Resources or other form of agreement with the foreign university, non-profit institution or entity.

The final approved documents will be executed by the President. Executed original documents with signatures from all engaged parties will be retained by the Provost office and recorded in the institutional repository. 

All approved agreement proposals, agreements and letters of intent shall be administered by appropriate units including colleges, centers, faculty members and other relevant units.  The Office of the President will not assume responsibility for the implementation of those agreements.

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[1] The document must be reviewed by the AUA Legal Counselor to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory norms; the CFO to ensure compliance with the University's financial and accounting rules; the COO assesses the viability of facility, space, and equipment-related commitments in the application; and the Provost (or Provost’s Designee) approves the proposed work to make sure that it is within the academic mission of the University.

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Procedure

The following procedure describes how to initiate a proposal for an agreement and the required review and approval process for a proposal to become an executed Agreement.

Definitions

The following terms and definitions are for use in the context of this policy:

An agreement means a written agreement between AUA and other university, government, industry or non-profit institution that entails a commitment of one or more University Resources for academic and research purposes and has been approved by designated signatories. This applies also to externally-funded grant agreements.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) means a written statement of understanding between AUA and other university, government, industry or non-profit institution expressing a mutual intention to engage in a cooperative academic or research effort which does not involve a commitment of University Resources.

Letter of intent means a nonbinding document outlining the understanding between AUA and other university, government, industry or non-profit institution which is intended to formalize when/if the legal agreement is finalized. 

University Resources means labor, materials, or assets, both monetary and non-monetary, under the control and management of the University including University funds, facilities, office space, research materials, tools, databases, library services, equipment, or the time or effort of University personnel.  University assets include the University's names or marks, and all University intellectual property, including copyrighted materials and resources.