Hosting International Visitors

UGA faculty routinely invite international colleagues to Athens and often request official meetings with senior administration as part of those visits. At times, these requests include a formal signing ceremony for an international cooperative agreement or memorandum of understanding.

While many of these contacts are of considerable strategic interest to the University, others are of more speculative value. Nevertheless, all make demands on already tight schedules and require significant protocol preparation when they occur at a senior administrative level (President or Provost). To make the best use of time, requests for meetings with senior administration will be vetted as follows.

The OGE International Initiatives unit will serve as the point of contact through which senior international delegation meeting requests will be made. Once received, OGE will forward all meeting requests to the relevant senior administrative office (President or Provost) and will follow up with the relevant office based on the following criteria:

For Prospective partners: unless instructed otherwise by the President or Provost, OGE will pursue the scheduling of courtesy visits or signing ceremonies only for partners of strategic interest to UGA. This identification would be made by the respective school or college dean or associate dean.

For Existing UGA partners: unless instructed otherwise by the President or Provost, OGE will pursue the scheduling of informational meetings only if the meeting is to report significant new activity or to facilitate an ongoing relationship of strategic interest to UGA, as identified by the President, Provost, Associate Provost for Global Engagement, or by the relevant school or college dean or associate dean.

The Associate Provost for Global Engagement and the Office of Global Engagement will routinely handle all other requests for meetings and signing ceremonies.

Faculty seeking OGE’s assistance in hosting an international visitor should contact Brian Watkins, Director of International Initiatives.