International Co-operation Policy [June 17, 1982]

University of Toronto Governing Council

International Cooperation Policy

June 17, 1982

To request an official copy of this policy, contact:

The Office of the Governing Council
Room 106, Simcoe Hall 27 King’s College Circle University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1A1

Phone: 416-978-6576
Fax: 416-978-8182
E-mail: governing.council@utoronto.ca
Website: http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/

International Cooperation Policy

The University of Toronto has long participated in a wide variety of cooperative relationships with universities, other institutions and individuals in many countries. This cooperation has been valuable to the University and has enriched Toronto, Ontario and the Canadian community through exposure to new ideas and new perspectives.

At the present time, requests and opportunities for international cooperative ventures--on a person-to- person and organization-to-organization basis--are increasing in urgency and importance and the University's interest and involvement in this area are also growing. These changes have created a need for clearer policy guidance, better procedures and greater administrative support services in this area. In order to meet this demand, the University is establishing a policy statement and guidelines for international cooperation. The guidelines establish procedures for responding to international cooperation opportunities. This policy statement is intended to reaffirm the University's support for international cooperation.

This policy is intended to cover international cooperation agreements involving significant University of Toronto resources. It is not intended to cover either research projects and conferences or travel and exchange projects related to research which are the responsibility of the Office of Research Administration nor student exchange programs which are recognized as being eligible for provincial funding.

Principles of International Cooperation

  1. The University of Toronto reaffirms the value and necessity of international cooperation between members of its community and members of appropriate communities and organizations abroad provided that such cooperation does not violate fundamental human rights and freedoms.
  2. The University will attempt to accommodate and facilitate international cooperative ventures within the framework of its existing policies, priorities and programs, commensurate with existing resources and with resources that can be made available or acquired for specific international cooperation objectives.
  3. The University will give appropriate credit, in terms of career advancement, to faculty members, professional librarians and members of the administrative staff who take part in cooperative projects.
  4. The University administration will play an active role in encouraging and facilitating international cooperative endeavours by disseminating to the university community information about existing opportunities and sources of funding, by helping to generate new opportunities for externally funded projects and by assisting the university community in the preparation of agreements and proposals for funding.
  5. All international cooperation agreements and contracts must be approved by the Dean(s), Principal(s) or Director(s) of participating divisions and must be signed by the President or his/her designate. When graduate student research is involved, the contracts and agreements must also be signed by the Chairman of the appropriate graduate department(s).

All agreements and contracts must contain a clause expressing the University's intention to select participants for the project or exchange on the basis of merit without regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, marital status or physical handicap except where any one or more of such attributes is a reasonable and bona fide requirement, qualification or consideration for participation in the particular project or exchange. A clause must also be included committing each party to accept the participants selected by the other party if mutually acceptable academic and/or professional qualifications and standards are met and to treat participants in the same nondiscriminatory manner in carrying out the provisions of the agreement or contract, but subject however to the provisions of all other University policies and requirements not inconsistent herewith, as they exist from time to time. Any violation of these clauses will be considered grounds for terminating the agreement or contract.