Twelve Principles for Successful Site Visits to Potential Partner Institutions.
- Start with open mind, a willingness to learn something new, and the belief that you are entering into a dialogue not a lecture.
- Learn and use the basic forms of greeting, order of speaking, rituals of conversation, gift-giving, and other forms of standard polite interaction for the country you are visiting.
- Explore how you and your potential partner define even the most basic terms, such as “partnership.”
- Develop a broad understanding of the potential partner (e.g., history, mission, organization, policies, procedures, strengths, positioning within the country, student body composition, curriculum, academic calendar, decision-making structures) and offer such information about your own institution in reverse.
- Ask about the potential partner’s partnership history and experiences, and explain yours in return.
- Learn about the larger context of higher education in the partner’s country.
- Do not move too quickly toward closure. Take time. Revise first impressions. Allow the conversation to mature.
- Explore a range of partnership possibilities, working toward finding areas of mutual interest and benefit. Include long-range goals but also immediate possibilities. Understand that robust partnerships take years to develop and mature.
- Explore what resources will be needed to carry partnership activities forward and who will be responsible for providing what. Also explore policy and requirement issues that may prove to be roadblocks – and how these might be overcome.
- Don’t make promises you cannot keep. Keep all promises you make. Make it clear that nothing can be signed at this point, and that you must take what you have learned back for discussions at your home campus.
- Set up channels for subsequent communication. Identify next steps.
- Take copious notes, and don’t forget to take photographs recording the visit, which you should label as soon as possible. Analyze your notes on the ride home and make a To-Do list to follow up when you land, which should begin with thank-you notes to your hosts.