GENERAL POLICY REPORT #17

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO

February 2, 2001

 

TO: MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO FACULTY

The item listed below, approved by Faculty Council December 12, 2000, will be considered to have the necessary faculty approval unless a petition requesting further consideration of this item is signed by five faculty members and submitted to the chair of the Faculty Council within 14 calendar days after the date of circulation (February 16, 2001). If no petition is received within 14 days, the report will be submitted to the president for approval and transmittal to the regents, if regents' action is required. If a petition is received, the report will be referred to the Faculty Council. On items referred to it, the council may: (1) affirm the action and report it to a meeting of the university faculty, (2) amend the action and report it to a meeting of the university faculty, or (3) rescind the action.

 

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To: Faculty Council

From: Graduate Council, Charles R. Hatch, Chair

Subject: UI/CATIE Joint Doctoral Program

 

Following this memo is a draft of a Partnership Agreement on a Joint Doctoral Program between Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Ensenañza (CATIE) and the University of Idaho was approved by the Graduate Council on November 29, 2000. The agreement establishes jointly offered doctoral programs in disciplines currently offered through UI’s College of Natural Resources and College of Agriculture. No new degrees are being created. No new UI courses will need to be created.

 

CATIE is a non-profit international research and graduate education organization, consisting of eleven member countries: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela. Its campus is located in Turrialba, Costa Rica, and its faculty and students conduct research in several tropical disciplines: crop and germplasm improvement and conservation, integrated pest management in agroforestry and forestry, agroforestry systems, sustainable management of forests and their biodiversity, and the socio-economic evaluation and analysis of management systems for goods and services provided by tropical systems.

 

It provides master’s degrees on its campus, and is looking to provide doctoral degrees in cooperation with other research institutions in North America and in Europe. Our draft agreement will enable our two institutions to recruit students globally for doctoral research in tropical agriculture and resources; the students will take most of their formal course work at the UI, and will conduct their research at CATIE and at research sites in its member countries.

 

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PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN

Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Ensenañza Y ENSENANZA (CATIE) AND

THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO (UI)

 

I. GENERAL

A. The University of Idaho and CATIE hereby establish a joint Ph.D. program in disciplines offered through UI’s College of Natural Resources and College of Agriculture and CATIE’s Graduate School. All students enrolled in this program are considered students jointly of CATIE and of the University of Idaho.

 

B. The degree titles shall be those currently in existence at the University of Idaho. From the College of Natural Resources, it shall be the Ph.D. in Natural Resources; from the College of Agriculture, it shall be any of the degree names currently awarded by disciplines in that college.

C. Applications will be solicited globally by CATIE, UI, and jointly. Acceptability will be determined by availability of space in the program and by applicants’ meeting admission requirements of both CATIE and UI.

 

D. English is designated as the official language of the program although a working knowledge of Spanish is desired (see II A 5).

 

E. Once the requirements have been completed successfully, a joint doctoral degree diploma is to be issued bearing the names of both the University of Idaho and CATIE, and signed by the appropriate officers of both institutions.

 

II. WORKING PLAN

A. Recruitment, Application, and Admission

1. Each institution will be responsible for both individual efforts and joint efforts with the other institution to recruit potential students to apply to the joint doctoral programs.

 

2. Each applicant must have a master’s degree from an accredited North American institution or from an acceptable (to both CATIE and UI) institution elsewhere.

 

3. The institution receiving an application will make a copy of the complete application, including all supporting documents, and will forward the material to the other institution by fax or by electronic means. Copies of UI applications are to be forwarded to the Graduate School (Escuela Posgrado) at CATIE. Copies of CATIE applications are to be forwarded to the College of Graduate Studies at UI. All application materials must be in English; transcripts must be in the original language and must be accompanied by an official English translation.

 

4. The application fee will be determined by mutual agreement and will be listed in an Addendum. That fee will be equally divided between the two institutions.

 

5. An applicant must meet both CATIE and UI admissions requirements. The language requirement of 550 TOEFL or equivalent applies for applicants from non-English-speaking countries. A minimum working level of Spanish is necessary for non-native Spanish speakers. Applicants without the knowledge of Spanish are urged to take Spanish 101 and Spanish 102 (or equivalent) while taking classes at the UI.

 

6. Special attention is to be accorded these applications in order to insure particularly prompt action by both institutions’ admissions offices.

 

7. Applicants to any of the joint Ph.D. programs are expected to have particular research interests, leading to a dissertation, in Central or South American geographical or other tropical areas of the world.

B. Registration

1. Normally, students will complete all of their course requirements at the UI during the first part of their registration in the joint program.

2. Fees paid will be the standard resident graduate fees and the nonresident tuition charged by the institution at which the student registers for a particular term (unless the nonresident tuition is waived by an institution’s internal procedures: e.g., if a student is on an assistantship, which carries an automatic waiver of nonresident tuition).

 

3. The resident graduate and program fees will remain with the institutions to which they are paid.

 

4. The nonresident tuition paid to either institution will remain with the institution to which it is paid.

 

5. Room, board, and any other living expenses are to be paid by the student as and where needed.

 

6. Because this is a joint degree program, students on assistantships awarded by either CATIE or UI will be extended the same privileges extended to any other UI graduate assistants, including nonresident tuition waivers. Similarly, students whose official residence at application time is either the state of Idaho or a member country of CATIE (see footnote 1) will be considered to be of resident status, and will have no nonresident tuition charged.

C. Course of Study

1. Each student will have a doctoral advisory committee consisting of a minimum of four faculty members, two from CATIE and two from UI. Additional committee members, if desired, will be chosen in accordance with the guidelines of both institutions.

 

2. One CATIE committee member and one UI committee member will serve as co-advisors.

 

3. Because participants in these joint doctoral programs are required to engage in dissertation research specifically related to tropical agriculture and natural resources, immediate research supervision will be provided by the CATIE co-advisor, who will maintain close and frequent communication with the UI co-advisor. As part of the collaboration, the UI co-advisor is expected, on a regular basis during the student’s tenure, to visit the site where the dissertation research is being conducted.

 

4. A Study Plan is to be developed jointly among the CATIE and UI co-advisors and the student, subject to approval by all members of the committee. This Study Plan shall incorporate a minimum of 24 semester credits of course work acceptable to be applied to graduate degrees and 24 semester credits of doctoral research (equivalent to UI course 600) in addition to the course work from a previous master’s degree.

 

5. Every student is required to complete successfully a Preliminary Examination. This examination is to be conducted shortly before or soon after the completion of the regular course work, and is a cooperative effort between the student’s CATIE and UI committee members. The examination is to be conducted on either campus. The Preliminary Examination is to include both written and oral portions. If faculty from one institution are unable to travel to the institution at which the oral portion is being conducted, interactive systems available at both CATIE and UI are to be used to insure same-time examination for all faculty on the committee.

 

6. Once the student successfully completes the course requirements, he/she is expected to begin research for the dissertation if he/she has not yet begun to do so. Normally, such research will require registration at the CATIE campus, even if the field research requires presence at other Central and/or South American locations or elsewhere. Field research conducted in North America will require registration at the UI campus. In either case, students will also be registered for at least one credit of dissertation research at the other institution.

 

7. The doctoral Research Plan is to be developed jointly among CATIE and UI faculty and the student, incorporating all details, including a budget and the source of funding. A public seminar on the Research Plan is to be given during which the student may receive questions and suggestions from the audience in attendance and from the committee members. Interactive systems available at both CATIE and UI may be used.

 

8. Drafts of sections of the dissertation are to be circulated among the committee members to insure that all faculty involved have adequate opportunity to comment on the research and the writing as both are progressing.

 

9. The defense of the dissertation is to be conducted after all committee members have agreed that the dissertation is of sufficient quality that major corrections or additions are no longer necessary. The defense will be conducted on the CATIE or UI campus, whichever is more convenient for the student and the committee members. If faculty from one institution are unable to travel to the institution at which the defense is being conducted, interactive systems available at both CATIE and UI are to be used to insure same-time examination for all faculty on the committee.

 

10. All members of the committee must approve the final copies of the dissertation, by signing the appropriate form, in order for the required number of final copies to be submitted to the appropriate offices at both institutions.

 

11. Costs for the use of interactive systems are to be paid by the institution at whose facilities the student is taking the oral examination, presenting the public seminar, or making the dissertation defense.

III. PROGRAM NOTES

1. CATIE and UI will each designate a program coordinator for this partnership to whom all matters relating to this partnership are to be directed.

 

2. Graduate faculty from appropriate disciplines at each institution will be considered for election to graduate faculty status at the other institution.

 

3. Once this joint Ph.D. program is approved by both institutions, the agreement may be modified by both institutions agreeing to a written request for such modification from either institution. The modification will then be implemented one year after such agreement.

 

4. This joint program is to be carried out for an initial period of five years. However, it may be automatically extended for additional periods of five years. Each party to this agreement may terminate the partnership agreement with a written notice of one year in advance or until the current students in the program complete their degree requirements, whichever is longer. Upon such notice to terminate the agreement, no new students will be admitted into the joint program.

 

5. Students in the program will be provided international student support services, including assistance on immigration and visa issues, by appropriate offices at the host institutions.

 

6. All results and intellectual property rights arising from the work under this Agreement shall be owned equally by CATIE and UI, and shall be subject to the regulations of each institution.

 

IV. FINANCIAL/CREDIT HR MODEL

Student Activity                     UI                                                       CATIE

 

Coursework/             Full-time       Full-time fees+            Registers for     Fees decided

Research at UI         credit load     non-resident tuition      min. of 1 cr.      by CATIE

(if applicable) per term

(see footnote 2)

 

Research/             Min. of one     Grad fee at current         Full-time             Fees decided

Coursework         credit per         UI rates +                     credit load           by CATIE 

at CATIE             semester          program fee to UI   

                                                   of $1,250 per semester

                                                  (see footnote 3)

 

 

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Footnotes:

1. Member Countries of CATIE

The member countries of CATIE are Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.

 

2. UI Tuition, fee and costs (using 2000-2001 fees as an example)

Resident full-time fee         $1,508 per semester

Non-resident tuition           $3,000 per semester

    Total                            $4,508 per semester

 

UI and CATIE students on full Research Assistantships receive resident status (no non-resident tuition) regardless of residency status.

 

Room and Board, transportation, all other expenses such as textbooks, clothing, etc., are additional costs that are borne by the student.

 

3. Program fee

The program fee collected is to be used for travel costs for co-advisor to visit cooperating institution, compensation to co-advisor as needed, interactive video costs for preliminary exam, public seminar, and final defense, miscellaneous expenses, and administrative costs.

 

This item may be viewed in its original form and format at the

Faculty Secretary’s Office – Room M6 - Brink Hall

                                                           

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