Guidelines on International Agreements

Verification of existing Agreement: You must verify in the Agreement Visualizer if there is already a valid agreement, either general (for all UC knowledge areas) or specific (One Faculty or Unit), that contemplates the same cooperation you wish to establish with the international institution. If there is another agreement with the same purpose, the process initiation will be rejected.

The definitions of the different types of agreements must be carefully analyzed.

Each agreement has specific objectives and functions. Depending on the type of agreement, different evaluation criteria will be established.

These are:

1. Cooperation Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

2. Mobility Programs

• Semester Exchange Agreement
• Double Degree Agreement (Undergraduate)
• Double Degree Agreement (Master’s)
• Double Degree Agreement (Doctorate)
• Framework Agreement for Research Internships
• Framework Agreement for Professional Internships
• Framework Agreement for Artistic Residencies

3. Health Programs

• Clinical Observations
• Clinical Rotations or Practices
• International Internship

Before proposing the establishment or renewal of an international agreement, it is essential that the initiative be discussed with the Dean of the faculty or with the highest authority of the respective unit.

Agreements should be a reflection of tangible progress in the relationship between institutions rather than the starting point of collaboration. Therefore, faculties or units are requested to report on previous activities carried out with the counterpart, demonstrating a solid history of interaction and concrete cooperation.

Step 1: Agreement Proposal

1.1 Contact the International Agreements and Evaluation team (jialarcon@uc.cl) indicating the characteristics of the Agreement to be formalized and the corresponding institution.

1.2 The team will send you a Form to analyze the proposal.

This form should be requested exclusively by academics, researchers, professionals or administrative staff of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Evaluations from counterparts or students will not be considered.

Step 2: Proposal Evaluation:

It is important to highlight that agreements should be a reflection of tangible progress in the relationship between institutions rather than the starting point of collaboration. Therefore, faculties or units will be asked to report on previous activities carried out with the counterpart, demonstrating a solid history of interaction and concrete cooperation.

The Vice-Rectory for International Affairs will evaluate the proposal and may make one of the following decisions:

1. Approve the proposal.
2. Request additional information.
3. In case it does not meet the criteria for signing an agreement, reject the proposal.

Signing the form: Once completed, the proposal form must be analyzed and signed by the corresponding Dean to officialize the proposal.

• General and specific Agreements

1. General Agreements: Include all faculties or areas of knowledge.
2. Specific: exclusive to a Faculty, Academic Unit, Institute or Center.

The process initiation will be rejected if UC has already signed a General agreement that covers the same cooperation sought to be established in a specific agreement.

• Validity

Depending on the type of agreement and whether it’s a new association or an extension of an existing one, most agreements are valid for 3 to 5 years.
*Agreements with automatic renewal will not be signed.

• Language

Agreements must be drafted in Spanish or English.

If the official language of the counterpart is different from these two languages, an English version or a Spanish version can be drafted alongside the translation in the foreign institution’s language.

• Legal representation

Agreements must be signed by authorities with legal representation at the University. At UC, this corresponds to the University Rector, Pro-rectors, and Vice-rectors.

The Vice-rectory of International Affairs encourages the use of digital signatures. The University works with the digital legal platform Webdox, which can coordinate the signatures of UC legal representatives and the counterpart.

In case the counterpart does not accept digital signatures, original physical signatures can be coordinated. The Legal Affairs Office will not accept scanned manual signatures.

Once the process is completed, the International Agreements team will forward a digital copy to the agreement requester. In case of manual signature, the Vice-rectory of International Affairs and the counterpart will keep an original copy of the fully executed agreement; and a scanned copy will be sent to the agreement requester.

The Vice-rectory of International Affairs will add the document to the International Agreements database, whose records are published in the following database.

• Head of International Agreements and Evaluation: Javiera Alarcón (jialarcon@uc.cl)
• Coordinator of International Agreements and Cooperation: Hoang Anh Vu: (hoanganh.vu@uc.cl)
• Coordinator of International Agreements: Catalina Rosales (catalina.rosales@uc.cl)