International partnerships do not begin or culminate with signing of an international agreement. Formalizing international partnerships through the development of agreements are intended to enhance, not replace concrete collaborative activities such as including joint research, co-publication, or the development of overseas study opportunities.
It is important to maintain a record of collaborative engagement with international partners. Please update your faculty pages to reflect international engagement you are involved in both informally and under the auspices of formal international agreements, contract, or grants. This page is linked to the FSU's Global Footprint/Faculty Experts page. Please also notify the Program Director, International Initiatives regularly about activities that occur in conjunction with international agreements.
Supporting an Active Exchange Program
The exchange of students can begin as soon as an Exchange Agreement is signed by both universities. Throughout the exchange staff and faculty at each institution commit to promoting the exchange and supporting inbound and outbound students. In addition, the Chair of the participating FSU department(s) and the Dean of the participating FSU College(s) agree to support the exchange and its terms and to ensure that space is made available for inbound exchange students to enroll in courses - providing prerequisites have been met - without the need to gain special permission from each faculty member teaching the class.
Since tuition is waived for incoming students and collected from outbound students, it is expected that the total number of inbound and outbound students balance over a five year period. The Division of Academic Affairs reviews the numbers of inbound and outbound students per exchange annually, and makes recommendations accordingly.
Faculty and Staff Roles
Program Director, Exchanges: provides liaison and support for outgoing and incoming exchange students and participating departments.
- Assists outbound students with the exchange application process.
- Coordinate course selections with the Academic Advisor for International Exchange and/or Exchange Student's Academic Advisor at Florida State University and the Partner University.
- Assist with pre-departure preparation and out-bound travel procedures.
- Request student evaluations of the exchange program.
- Receives inbound student application materials and coordinates the process of admitting students with appropriate support services at Florida State University.
- Coordinates incoming students' course requests with Academic Advisor for the Exchange and the Registrar's Office.
Faculty Advisor/Faculty Sponsor for the Exchange: represents the participating academic Department or College.
- Promotes the exchange to FSU students.
- Directs outgoing students through the nomination process.
- Reviews applications of inbound and outbound students, and select nominees for the exchange.
- Assists inbound and outbound students with course selection and approvals process.
- Responsible for determining and approving course equivalencies for inbound and outbound students.
- Complete an annual evaluation of each exchange program to review the student learning outcomes explicit to each exchange agreement
Exchange Student's Academic Advisor (typically a staff member in the student's major department):
- Responsible for reviewing transcripts for outgoing FSU students and for reviewing proposed course equivalencies to ensure that the exchange will not delay the student's graduation and that the courses registered for at FSU do not exceed the approved number of hours for specific courses, as listed in the General Bulletin.
- The student's Academic Advisor also verifies that the total credits that will be earned through participation in the exchange is not 25% or more of the hours required for the student's degree.
The Center for Global Engagement J-1 Exchange Visitor Adviser: Supports inbound international exchange students with visa applications and immigration advising.
Renewing Agreements
Contact the Program Director, FSU International Initiatives at least 6 weeks prior to the expiration of an agreement should you wish to renew it (8 weeks if revisions are required). Please provide details of the activity that has taken place under the auspices of the agreement as well as the rationale for renewing the agreement for another term.
Once the renewal has been approved by the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Department, the Program Director, International Initiatives will draw up the renewal and coordinate the transmittal of the agreement to the partner institution(s) for review and signatures.
Terminating Agreements
In the event an agreement is to be terminated early, please contact the Program Director, FSU International Initiatives who will initiate the process. Exchange students or research scholars already accepted for the exchange/research visit will be allowed to complete the previously agreed visit even if the agreement has been terminated early so if an agreement is to be terminated.
Florida State University reserves the right to terminate or suspend and international agreements with a university or country that appears on the US government's restricted entity list or falls under travel warning from the Department of State. In the latter case, a student, faculty, or staff member who desires to travel will have to gain the appropriate travel permissions. Florida State University may refuse to grant permission for an FSU student to participate by denying the student's "Exemption Request for Travel to Locations on the U.S. Department of State Travel Warning or Alert List".