Throughout my years as a lecturer in both Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, I’ve often been involved in, and even initiated, academic collaborations between universities. From these experiences, I’ve developed a keen sense for identifying which initial meetings will likely lead to tangible collaboration agreements. Based on this, I can boil it down to two key indicators.
The first indicator is when the visiting party, or the party initiating the collaboration, knows exactly what they want. Now, I don’t mean they just want to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). That’s merely an administrative detail, a procedural formality.
What I mean is they know precisely what the collaboration entails. For academic collaborations, such as in research, they have a clear idea of the research topics at hand. They can clearly articulate what is missing and what needs to be addressed through the collaboration.
If the first conversation is solely about signing the MoU without discussing the specifics of the collaboration, it’s a clear sign that the aim is just to have a ceremonial photo op. The MoU papers will end up gathering dust in a drawer. If the discussions are vague and purely normative, it’s a sign that the intent is merely to have a little trip. Save your time. There’s no point in further discussions in such cases.
The second indicator is when the topics for discussion, such as research, are too many. Start with the most straightforward one. Begin with one thing. Begin with something simple. If too many things are proposed at the initial stage, once again, save your time. The collaboration meeting won’t go beyond mere talk.
Knowing exactly what needs to be done and starting with one simple thing can be a good indicator that the academic collaboration being proposed will indeed see implementation.
So, the next time you find yourself in an initial meeting for an academic collaboration, keep an eye out for these signs. And remember, while signing MoUs can be exciting, it’s the implementation that truly matters. Let’s aim for meaningful collaborations that lead to real impact, and not just photo opportunities.
