Different legal frameworks and cultural backgrounds pose a particular challenge to international academic cooperation. A lack of knowledge or misunderstandings in these areas can hinder cooperation and exchange with partners. Taking an informed and sensitive approach to negotiating and formulating rights and obligations can make a significant contribution to achieving successful collaboration.

In order to ensure successful cooperation during all phases, internationalisation stakeholders at higher education institutions should be as well informed as possible about the different legal frameworks that exist in partner countries. This applies to practitioners at higher education institutions as well as to the academic management support staff there, who provide services at various interfaces (International Offices, legal advisors, third-party funding administrators, etc.) and are involved, for example, in drafting cooperation agreements and contracts.

Orientation in Every Phase of Cooperation

Legal issues play a key role in all phases of academic cooperation. These should be reflected upon, discussed internally and harmonised with partners, particularly when cooperation with international university partners starts.

The following questions may be relevant here: 
What legal frameworks – and differences in legal systems – need to be taken into consideration when structuring and, where appropriate, contractually arranging cooperation projects with international partners? 
What role do legal/cultural contexts and differences play in cooperation and what sources of information are available? 
How can I remain sensitive vis-à-vis partners and take differing values and legal traditions into consideration, while simultaneously protecting my own interests?

We are working to support you in achieving your objectives and quality standards throughout the various phases of academic cooperation. In particular, we provide information on how appropriate contractual agreements can be reached while safeguarding the interests of both sides. Alongside our own expertise, we draw particularly on the experience accumulated at university level, leverage successful practical examples of international academic cooperation and make these, together with specific recommendations, accessible to the higher education landscape. In combination with the DAAD’s wide-ranging regional expertise, we moreover enable you to take the interests of your partners in the respective partner country into consideration from the outset and, if necessary, establish contact with our representatives and partners in the target country.

The Three Pillars of the "Legal Frameworks" Subject Area

Our "legal frameworks" subject area provides you with information on the following three pillars in all phases of academic cooperation:

Pillar 1: Shaping cooperations in compliance with the law – orientation in European and national law with implications for international academic cooperations.

Focus: Legal aspects of international academic cooperation, e.g. data protection (GDPR in cooperation agreements, digitalisation of teaching, digital examinations), "dual use" (EU Dual Use Regulation, EU Commission recommendations on internal compliance programmes).

 

Pillar 2:  Include country-specific legal frameworks – consider specific legal frameworks in selected countries

Focus: Concise information on different national legal systems (other legal systems e.g. in South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, China/comparative law/extraterritoriality of other laws e.g. US export control laws).

 

Pillar 3: Knowledge of legal cultures and systems – awareness of other legal systems and legal cultures

Focus: Better understanding of other legal systems/cultures (common law approach, continental European civil law approach, Confucian legal system, socialist concept of law) and comparative categorisation of one’s own legal system.

 

In order to establish a mutual consensus without misunderstandings arising during negotiations and to create a legally watertight contractual basis for cooperation, it is advisable – especially when etsablishing new academic contacts – to take an awareness of different legal cultures as a starting point and to include this often neglected aspect before entering into a cooperation.

We therefore recommend that the individual steps in our subject-specific information services are carried out in the following chronological order:

1. Promoting awareness of other legal systems and legal cultures

2. Orientation in European and national law for legally compliant organisation of cooperations

3. Consideration of country-specific legal frameworks for specific cooperation projects

Making International Academic Collaboration Legally Compliant

What KIWi Can Offer

KIWi has developed various formats for dialogue and information:

• Individual information briefings (by telephone and in writing)
• Dialogue and networking events for peer-to-peer exchanges
• Publications and handouts for representatives of German higher education institutions

A key focus of our work is facilitating dialogue between higher education institutions on various legal aspects of international academic cooperation. We offer a framework for sharing your experiences, entering into dialogue with each other and with the DAAD and strengthening your academic cooperation through a joint learning process.