Agenda and Papers - University of Edinburgh

Delegation of authority for endorsement and sign off of MOU and MOA
The Principal is the official signatory for MOU and MOA; however, the formal
delegation of this duty outlined in the documentation is not officially confirmed. The
documentation shows delegated authority to the Vice-Principal of Research Training
and Community Relations and Vice-Principal International for sign off. Confirmation
of delegation was sought and received as the approved Delegated Authorisation
Scheduled (DAS) states in sections 4.6 and 16.3 that authority had been delegated
to the Principal to approve and sign off on behalf of the University any agreements
and arrangements relating to the education and learning of undergraduate,
postgraduate taught or postgraduate research students including those with an
international character. The Guidance and Processes documentation has been duly
amended to reflect the information in the DAS.
Scoping ECA collaborative provision and student exchange documentation
was not part of the original remit, however, as the proposed merger had since
been agreed, the ECA documentation was reviewed in accordance with the
ECA Working Party.
The documentation was reviewed by Sandra Morris of the International Office, Susie
Rice of Governance and Strategic Planning and Vivienne McFarlane of Academic
Services. ECA best practice was considered and, where appropriate, inserted into
UoE documentation. It was found that the UoE Code of Practice, policy materials,
approval process and application forms were more than adequate. There was,
however, one area, where ECA and UoE differed in practice: ECA requires all partner
institutions to be visited before a new exchange partner is established and it requires
each exchange destination to be visited at least once in every 5 years. This practice
is possible within the scale and scope of collaborative provision at ECA, but it is
unlikely that the UoE could support the financial cost of implementing this
requirement with well over 200 partners worldwide. It was felt that the existing
feedback systems in UoE (see “Process for the Approval of, and Procedures for
Student Exchange and Study Abroad” http://www.ed.ac.uk/schoolsdepartments/international-office/exchanges/staff-information/newexchanges)
did allow identification of problems and visits to partner institutions were
organised when possible and appropriate. The Task Group recommended the
development of a Risk Analysis as part of the approval process and a sub group will
take this forward.
It was agreed that the resulting student exchange/study abroad documentation met the
requirements and was in an appropriate form, in line with the QAA Code of Practice
on Collaborative Provision, for both institutions. It was understood that UoE policies,
regulations and guidance would be adopted by ECA unless there was a discipline
specific reason not to do so.
Revised quality assurance processes, where identified as
necessary
The Task Group felt that the existing UoE quality assurance processes were
adequate. It was agreed, however, that more detailed approval processes would
ensure clarity of responsibility and greater transparency for students and staff.
The University level processes for the approval of all collaborative programmes were
reviewed and updated in line with the QAA Precepts. Due to the devolved structure
of UoE, considerable guidance exists at College and School level which was not
reviewed by the Task Group. It was agreed that Schools with collaborative provision
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