Usually, either BOKU scientists or foreign institutions inform the BOKU-International Relations about their interest to sign a co-operation agreement.

The BOKU-International Relations then checks 

  • if they already exist certain agreements / research or other projects with the foreign institution
  • if the criteria for signing future co-operation agreements (according to categories 1 – 3) are met.

In case all criteria are met (or if an existing co-operation agreement is about to expire due to the duration determined in the contract and should be renewed)

  • the BOKU-International Relations contacts (if applicable) further BOKU Scientists who could also be included in the co-operation and
  • informs the Rectorate and the BOKU Committee for Internationalisation about the sound application to sign a university-wide co-operation agreement and
  • in case of a positive recommendation of BOKU’s Committee for Internationalisation and a positive decision of the Rectorate – starts the contract negotiations with the partner university (based on standard agreement texts of BOKU)..

In case of new text suggestions from the partner institutions,.the draft contracts are checked by the BOKU legal office and relevant other units (e.g. Study Services….)

After the contract negotiations have been finalised, the BOKU-International Relations submits the agreement to the rectorate for signature and forwards the originals to the partner university for signature.

In the following meeting of the Committee for Internationalisation, the members of the committee are informed about new agreements signed. Furthermore, the university-wide co-operation agreements are published on the BOKU-International Relations website and similar media (e.g. e-Newsletter, Mobility Online, in some cases TOPStory or report in BOKU magazine, as well as relevant publications of the OeaD etc.).


All existing university-wide co-operation agreements are annually evaluated with regard to:

  • Implementation of the planned work programme
  • Duration of the agreement


In case the planned work programme has not been implemented, the relevant BOKU departmental co-ordinators are contacted and the reasons for non-compliance are analysed. In case of continuous non-compliance, the cancellation of the agreement is possible. In case of well-functioning co-operation agreements, the relevant measures for prolonging the contract are taken early before the agreement is due to expire. 

In certain exceptional cases (particularly for Co-tutelle Doctoral agreements) it is students of BOKU or foreign universities who declare their interest to sign an agreement. Under these circumstances, the BOKU-International Relations carefully checks if BOKU already has contacts to the relevant institution abroad, and if BOKU scientists are willing to act as supervisors / departmental co-ordinators.