New International Cooperative Degree Program

New International Cooperative Degree Program

Please note: As of June 1, 2025, this process has been updated in collaboration with the Office of International Affairs. 

The purpose of an international cooperative degree program is to give outstanding students an opportunity to pursue, simultaneously, a graduate degree at Ohio State and at a partner international university. The ability to gain an international experience in graduate education provides access to new information and perspectives, innovative concepts and methods, emerging research technologies and unique populations and environments not typically available at a single institution and country. 

Ohio State units interested in establishing an International Cooperative Graduate Degree Program with an international partner must first establish an overarching International Cooperative Graduate Degree Agreement (ICGDA) with the international partner. This umbrella agreement outlines overall requirements of and conditions pertaining to all such ICGDAs. The signed ICGDA ensures both the Ohio State unit and international partner agree to the overall terms and conditions of such programs. Please be sure to review the International Cooperative Degree Program considerations section of these guidelines as you begin developing your curricular proposals. 

International Cooperative Degree Considerations

International Cooperative Graduate Degree Agreements (ICGDA) involve multiple levels of review. 

  1. Notify the Office of International Affairs of the intent to establish an ICGDA between Ohio State and an international university.
    1. An email may be sent to OIA International Partnerships (Elizabeth Angerman.6) to request that they conduct a Risk Assessment. As a part of the Risk Assessment, OIA will complete a Visual Compliance Restricted Party (VCRP) screening of the proposed international partner. OIA will then request a Restricted Party and Research Compliance Sign-off for ICGDA from the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance. This agreement can be initiated by completing the following Qualtrics Survey.
  2. Draft the ICGDA document.
    1. The ICGDA template includes text that has been approved by the Graduate School and reviewed by the Office of Legal Affairs. The types of ICGDAs are:
      1. Combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees (i.e., 3+2 programs)
      2. Dual degrees (i.e., dual PhD or dual master’s degree)
  3. Develop and submit the appropriate curricular proposal for approval to the appropriate department and college curricular committees.
  4. Upon receiving approval from the appropriate department and college curricular committees, submit the ICGDA documents and the program proposal to OIA.  OIA will distribute the curricular proposal to the Graduate School for subsequent administrative approvals while OIA continues processing necessary documents and obtaining signatures for the ICGDA. 

 

If you have questions:

For questions related to ICGDA agreements, initiation, obtaining the correct forms, and other international considerations please reach out to the Office of International Affairs: internationalagreements@osu.edu.

Curriculum specific items remain under the oversight of the Graduate School. For questions related to any curricular items, proposal development, program curricular materials, curricular review processes and timelines etc. please reach out to: grad-schoolcurriculum@osu.edu. 

Program proposal requirements

In addition to the general proposal template, and supplementary information for the specific program (Combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees, Dual Degree, or PhD), curricular proposals for new International Cooperative Degree Programs should include the following in the relevant sections:

Introductory material

  1. General information about the International Cooperative Graduate Degree program:
    1. A statement of how the cooperative agreement is distinct from existing programs regarding student audience, admission criteria, or program demand.
    2. Details about course transfer, duration of the program, and advising.
    3. Information about how the international cooperative dual degree program may affect recruitment, retention, and matriculation of students in the existing Ohio State program.
    4. Information about the Ohio State degree assessment plan (e.g., statement that the learning goals and assessment plan will not change for the Ohio State degree, or you may include as an attachment the Ohio State degree assessment plan generated by Nuventive.Improve).

Curricular information

  1. A detailing of the proposed dual degree curriculum, which must include the items listed below:
    1. Degree requirements for both degrees.
    2. Precise prefixes, course numbers, and titles of Ohio State courses, as used by the Registrar’s Office.
    3. Identify course modalities (i.e. t In Person (P, 0-24% Online), Hybrid (H, 25-74% Online), Distance Enhanced (DH, 75%-99% Online) or Distance Learning (DL, 100% Online).
    4. Courses that will count towards each degree program.
  • It is recommended these are presented as tables with corresponding titles and headers.

Program implementation

  1. Budget proposal, with estimated number of students for enrollment.

Supplementary Information for Appendices

  1. An advising sheet that students can use to track progress through the dual degree program.
  2. Short form syllabi for all new courses OR courses that will be changing in delivery format or credit hours (if any). Short form syllabi only include the course title, number, credits, prerequisites, a course description, course objectives, and a content topic list. Please note that all new courses must also be submitted in curriculum.osu.edu in their full format.