Evaluate and renew a departmental agreement

Evaluation criteria

• How has mobility worked in practice and in terms of quality?
• Incoming and outgoing students?
• Teacher/and staff mobility?
• Contacts/collaboration/administration?
• Access and availability of information?
• What has the reciprocity looked like? (balance between inbound and outbound)
• Should we change something in the content of the agreement?
  • Number of students/semesters?
  • Level (basic/advanced)?
  • Need for additions in the form of e.g. teacher and staff exchange?

Tools for evaluation

• The Higher Education Institution's Erasmus Policy Statement (for Erasmus+ agreements).
• Own strategic documents/policy documents.
• Activity level/reciprocity.
• Outgoing students evaluations and study results.
• Incoming students study results and English language skills.
• Other quality criteria taken into consideration when the agreement was signed.

Why is it important to renew an agreement in good time before it expires?

Mobility activities carried out under agreements that are expired results in the following problems:

• Partner universities cannot nominate their students to Umeå University, and thus the students cannot apply.
• Teacher exchange is not possible.
• The students are not covered by Kammarkollegiets Student In and Student Out.
• Neither of the contracting party has the cooperation in "black and white" which can cause uncertainty and misunderstandings.
• Umeå University cannot present the agreement to students, other authorities and external stakeholders, if the agreement has not been renewed.

Reasons not to renew (or terminate) an agreement

• Low activity or lack of reciprocity.
• Negative experiences by outgoing students.
• Insufficient knowledge/results by incoming students.
• Lack of information, communication, or cooperation difficulties with the contracting party.
• Breach of contract in any form.
• Negative effects on other parts of the operation.

Renewing the agreement

• Any of the parties, the department at Umeå University or the foreign higher education institution, proposes a renewal of the agreement. If it is an Erasmus agreement, use Umeå University's template or the partner university's Erasmus template.
• The agreement is prolonged, for time-saving reasons it should be extended for more than a year if it is probable that the cooperation will continue over a longer period.
• The contact person specified in the agreement must be the department's contact person/s.
• The agreement must be signed by the head of department or the department's international contact person (via delegation from the head of department) and the other party at the partner university.
• Establish the agreement in two originals: one for Umeå University and one for the partner university.
• The department's contact person updates the specifics in the agreement database Solemove.

For questions about archiving the agreement, contact the Registry and archives.