Office of International Scientific Cooperation

1. Introduction

The Office of International Collaborations was launched in 1989. Major Duties of the office are as follows:

·         Doing necessary correspondences for the participation of the university faculty members in international conferences and seminars

·         Supervising the financial affairs of sabbatical leave for faculty members

·         Doing the relevant correspondences and the necessary arrangements for issuing the visa for faculty members and foreign experts who are going to conduct their individual and joint research projects as well as to participate in national and international conferences at PNU in Iran

·         Establishing relations with the world higher education associations and federations for joining the university as one of their members

·         Taking necessary measures for paying the membership fees of the university in related associations and federations

·         Studying different universities’ educational systems for concluding Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) and Memorandum of Collaborations (MOCs)

·         Collaborating and monitoring in concluding legally binding MOUs and MOCs between Payame Noor University and other universities and educational institutions of the world

·         Preparing MOCs and MOUs drafts

·         Preparing the prospectus of the university in English

·         Updating the information about university that is published in the following books:

1.         the World of Learning

2.         the World of Open and Distance Learning

3.      Towards Virtualization: Open and Distance Learning

4.      Asian Association of Open Universities )AAOU( Handbook

·         Holding international conferences and seminars:

1.      The 10^th Annual Conference of Asian Association of Open Universities in November 1996

2.      The 23^rd Annual Conference of Asian Association of Open Universities in November 2009

2. Membership in International Associations and Institutions

A. Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU)

·         Membership in the Executive Committee and participation in Executive Board Meeting

·         Participating in the AAOU Annual Conferences

·         Participating in the Executive Board Meeting 2010 and voting for the nomination of AAOU President and members of Executive Committee for the Period of 1999-2001, 2008-2010 as a member and as a co-opted member of 2011-2013

·         Conducting proposal in nomination for AAOU Meritorious Service Award

·         Conducting AAOU Inter-University Staff Exchange Fellowship Program

·         Conducting AAOU Task Forces such as:

§  AAOU Young Innovator Awards Task
(A-YIA)

§  AAOU Quality Assurance Task Force (A-QA)

§  AAOU Quality Assurance Framework Delphi Questionnaire 2010

§  AAOU Standard Accreditation Agency
(A-SAA)

§  AAOU Shared Curriculum for Master Program in Management of Open and Distance Education
(A-CMODE)

§  AAOU Publication Copy Right (A-PCR)

B. International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)

·         Exchanging information and experiences with ICDE member universities and institutions

·         Participating in ICDE conferences and seminars

·         Making use of the ICDE Electronic Journal: Open Praxis

·         Having access to presented papers in ICDE conferences

·         Participation of PNU President in ICDE SCOP Annual Meetings

·         Conducting proposal on ICDE Prize of Excellence

·         Conducting ICDE Proposal on Regulatory Frameworks for Distance Education

C. Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW)

·         Conducting FUIW proposal in nomination of Eminent Scientists

·         Conducting FUIW proposal in nomination for the FUIW Prize for University Research

·         Conducting FUIW proposal in expanding and updating databases of experts and researchers in FUIW member universities

3. Concluded Memorandum of Understandings and Memorandum of Collaborations