How to establish partnerships with a university As a young assistant professor in civil engineering, i was tasked with building a new education program that leads to a masters degree in engineering. In order to offer the future students of this program more opportunities, I would like to establish a partnership with a foreign university, to allow the exchange of professors, students, and other types of collaborations that are usually covered in these types of partnerships. 

How would you advise me to proceed ?
I am probably not  qualified  to  answer  this  question,  but    the process  should  start  with you  talking  to other   faculty members and the chairperson of your  debarment   then  the  dean  of  the engineering college  and possibly other  colleges. if    the  college    that  employs you  is part  of a  university. Uou  and  others  need to see  one  or more provosts,   At  some  point  you  need  to  talk  to   one  or more  lawyers.

Tulane  University   has  an   agreement   with  university  in  Cali  Colombia,   or  at  least  the  medical   school  and  School  of  Public  health  and  Tropical  Medicine that  split  off  from  the medical  school in the late  1960s have   an   agreement   that  is 50  years  old  or  older..   

I am/was   a Tulane University faculty dependent.  When my  father  had  to  semi-retire in  1976,  he   went  to  Cali  Colombia   TWICE  to  work  with  a  professor  down  there., Tulane  also  has   an  agreement   with  Sewanee  University  in  the  United   States.    

My closest  friend     from  college  is now   a  full  time  faculty member  of  a health  sciences  technical university  who is on   several   degree    or program   creating  committees for  that university. She's  also  the  contact  person   between   the university   and   several hospitals. They have   an  existing  agreement  with  the University  of  New  Orleans,  When   her  university   could not hire  someone  to  teach  required introductory level physics  course   for  existing  degree programs,  They  ended up  sending   several   students,  who had  to take  the physics  course  to      to  graduate, to  UNO.

At  some point   you  need  to  get  legal  counsel  involved. 

Repeating myself, my  suggestion  is  talk   to OTHER  faculty members     who  have  been there  longer  to  see  who  they may know  or  who  have  worked  with   faculty members  who   are  now   working  at  foreign  universities.  Then  talk   to  the   department  chairman,    the  deans  of  on  or more  colleges  ,  then  people  in  the  university  administration,  one  or  more  provosts.  One  of  the  reasons  for   going  to  college NOW  is to form  foundation  of  professional  social  support  network.    Even  as  relatively NEW  Ph.D.  you  already   should  know OF    other   faculty members   at  other   universities  , including  foreign universities.  If  you  don't know  anyone,  certainly other  faculty   members  who  have  been there  longer knows  or  has  worked   with  someone  else at  a  foreign university. 

Do you have  any  visiting  professors  in  the  college   who  also  are   faculty members   at  a  foreign university..   I know  someone  who  now  has  Ph.D. in physics  who had  spend    one  Christmas    vacation  in  Madrid  Spain   because  his  dissertation   adviser    was  in    in  Europe    for   a  scientific  conference...

I  apologize  for assuming  you  are  in  the  United  States.  I know that may NOT  be  true. And  repeating my  self.  but  following  some professors   advice  to  repeat  everything  THREE   times. There may by  typos   I  did not  catch  and  correct.