Long term institutional collaboration with institutions in
developing and transitional economies– objectives and principles
Approved by Noragric Board 04-11-04 1. Purposes for NLH/Noragric
Institutional collaboration is one of the main mechanisms whereby NLH/Noragric can contribute to development in our partner countries. This is a part of fulfilling the
obligation of the university to contribute to Norwegian development objectives. NORAD considers institutional twinning arrangements as an important mechanism in development.
Institutional collaboration is also an important mechanism for recruiting international students to NLH, and increases the opportunities of NLH students to do field work at institutions in developing countries. Working with institutions helps establish relations between scientists from NLH and partners institutions for joint research projects and for exchange of staff. It adds value to our development oriented education and research programmes, and helps make our work relevant to the reality of developing countries.
2. Scientific profile
NLH/Noragric should aim at establishing programmes within the priority themes of the strategic plans of NLH and Noragric, and utilising the capacity of interested staff at NLH/Noragric. Scientific staff should be involved in and take responsibility for development of the programmes.
3. Funding sources
Institutional collaboration is funded from a number of sources. The most important sources are normally NORAD and NUFU. In addition, departments may choose to use regular NLH funds to work with partners in developing countries. When relations have been established researchers will often find additional sources like NFR and funding from other sources like e.g. WB or bilateral donors. The NORAD fellowship programme and the quota stipend system are important sources when it comes to funding of students coming to NLH for studies at MSc or PhD level.
4. Guidelines for establishment of agreements
Based on experience over more than 30 years of institutional co-operation, some simple principles have evolved. These should serve as guides for staff pursuing long-term agreements with partner institutions
- Formal agreements at the university level should only be established when there is some level of contact beyond personal contacts between two researchers, and a strategic interest from the institutions in pursuing joint programmes. Ad hoc collaboration linked to one project only can be governed by project agreements between the involved departments
- Formal agreements should only be established when there is a strong
probability that the planned activities can be funded from internal or external sources
- Agreements should normally be made with universities or research institutions;
important exceptions from this rule could be NGO collaboration aiming at more effective dissemination and outreach using research findings and expertise of the university
- Agreements should aim at involving several units at NLH and other partner institutions (e.g. NVH, NARI), in order to promote interdisciplinary and multiple personal links
- NLH/Noragric should aim at establishing strong partnerships involving a minimum of presence of Norwegian researchers. This is necessary in order to be able to share the responsibilities for the outcomes of the collaboration. This means a target figure of approximately 30% of the project budget (excluding major infrastructure investments) should be set aside for covering the NLH participation in research activities and scholarships for students at NLH.
- Institutional collaboration is a part of the externally financed activities at NLH/Noragric and the time spent should be fully funded through the project budget. Exceptions can only be made for staff using their “free” time that is funded from NLH or overhead budgets. Rates used should be the same as in NFR projects.
- Agreements between the institutions should be fairly detailed, and budgets should state clearly the funds available to cover the NLH/Noragric
participation. Detailed regulations should be developed for handling of e.g.
funds, PhD students, reporting, research outputs and joint planning and decision-making. Sample contracts and governing systems can be adapted from recently established programmes.
5. The role of Noragric in institutional collaboration
Any unit at NLH can establish international agreements without the involvement of Noragric, but Noragric is the entry point for NORAD funded programmes to NLH.
Noragric is the focal point for all collaboration with developing countries. Noragric will assume a responsibility for quality assurance of the programme documents where NLH/Noragric is involved, including relevance in relation to development policies, the structure of contracts and governing mechanisms etc. Noragric maintains a network of contacts in potential partner institutions and donor organisations that should be used actively to promote institutional collaboration. Noragric has the project management tools necessary for project execution and reporting etc. Noragric scientific staff have country knowledge and knowledge of development processes that may not be developed to the same level in the regular departments; thus mixed teams of Noragric staff and other staff from NLH departments should be promoted whenever feasible.