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Affiliation Agreements

Affiliation agreements are an integral part of student education offering on-the-job training in a real-world environment prior to graduation.

Overview

An affiliation agreement is a written contract detailing the legal obligations of both the school and the experiential learning site to facilitate experiential learning for students. These agreements are typically executed for five years but may be requested for a shorter period. When organizing an agreement, it is important to inquire with the site if they will require student liability insurance. If required, an affiliation agreement and insurance must be executed in order to begin experiential learning. If an agreement is in place for a given discipline with a particular site, all new students will be included under this agreement until expiration of the agreement itself.

Roles

  • Affiliation Agreement Coordinator — Although responsibilities may vary across academic programs, the coordinator serves as the intermediary between the site contact, student and the campus to ensure all necessary agreements are in place prior to the internship. Typically, the coordinator initiates the agreement and sends it to the experiential learning site. The coordinator consults with Regional Procurement Services if modifications are requested to the affiliation agreement.
  • Regional Procurement Services — Maintains a record of all agreements, orders insurance coverage when applicable, acts as a liaison with the Office of General Counsel for non-standard agreements and maintains a catalog of all related documents and forms.
  • Office of General Counsel — Issues standard agreements for clinical and non-clinical placements. Approves all agreement modifications for non-standard agreements.

Process

It is important to note if the site does not require student liability insurance, a student may begin experiential learning without an affiliation agreement in place.

If the experiential learning site does require student liability insurance, the department affiliation agreement coordinator will send the transmittal, agreement, exhibit B, and course syllabus to the site for review. A link to the templates for your department is provided below:

If the site finds the standard agreement acceptable without alteration, they will sign and return all documents to Regional Procurement Services at [email protected].

If the site requests changes to the standard agreement, upon returning the documents with requested changes, Regional Procurement Services will then work with the Office of General Counsel to approve the amended agreement. Once approved, both the site and SUNY Plattsburgh will execute the agreement.

Once the agreement has been executed, Regional Procurement Services will order liability insurance based on the information on the transmittal form. A copy will be sent directly to the site and another will be filed with the executed agreement in the Affiliation Agreement Google Drive. A link to executed agreements is provided below:

To review your current agreements and their status, please use the following link. If you find discrepancies, please contact Mitchell Guanga at [email protected] to resolve the issues.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the student liability insurance and what does it cover?

    The State University of New York has partnered with Ironshore Indemnity, Inc. to provide student liability insurance for eligible students. The purpose of the student liability policy is to cover State University of New York enrolled students participating in a clinical or non-clinical training program at an outside facility or at SUNY facilities. In order for the clinical or non-clinical training program to be included under the policy, all of the following criteria must be met:

    • The student must receive academic credit or be meeting a course or program requirement
    • The training must be supervised by the training site and a faculty member
    • There is an affiliation agreement in place between SUNY and the training program site
    • The affiliation site must require insurance. The program must be approved by the company for coverage under the policy

    This liability insurance policy will cover students who are named as a party of legal action arising from their participation in a program that meets the criteria described above. The policy will pay those sums that the student becomes legally obligated to pay as a result of “bodily injury” or “property damages” covered by the policy including associated legal expenses. This coverage does not indemnify the clinical/non-clinical training site, location or host entity. This policy does not insure any licensed professionals acting in that capacity.

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