Outline of Proposal

1. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv shall establish a visiting professor chair at Benue State University (BSU).

2. It is suggested that BSU provide office space and a stipend to support the chair.

3. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv shall pay for the administration and maintenance of the office.

4. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv shall encourage academics, scholars, and experienced professionals from overseas and in Nigeria to take up visiting positions at BSU in turns during the year, over short periods of time, ranging from a few weeks to a maximum of six months.

5. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv shall work with the Vice Chancellor (VC) and Registrar of BSU to roster visiting academics, scholars, and professionals to this position. This will be done as far ahead as possible to reduce the possibility of disrupting the academic programmes of the hosting departments and units.

6. It will be desirable for the visiting academics, scholars, and professionals to be remunerated in some way by BSU. Although it is expected that the visiting professionals might be supported by their home institutions in the form of sabbaticals or leaves of absence, some sabbaticals are not robust enough to provide adequate financial support for this type of endeavour. Most entities do not pay full salary for sabbaticals -- the home institution usually pays a certain percentage and the host university pays a certain percentage. Leaves of absence may be the predominant method available to most professionals wanting to serve as visiting professors. Therefore for the program to work well a stipend for the visiting professor is most desirable. A memorandum of understanding between BSU and MUTA/Tivnet/Ate-u-Tiv stating clear responsibilities for each party shall consummate this arrangement.

7. The programme of activities of visiting professors will be negotiated in advance with the hosting department or unit. This may consist of student supervision, teaching, training/writing unit, initiating, undertaking, collaborating and/or leading research, or participation in on-going research programmes of the hosting department/unit at BSU.

8. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv will provide the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of ALL visiting professors to the Registrar and VC of BSU.

9. MUTA, Tivnet, and Ate-u-Tiv will furnish the visiting professional with appropriate facilities to ensure that visiting professors are supported in ways that make the maximum positive impact on the academic programmes of the university/wider university community.

10. For general usage, access to the facilities of the MUTA/Tivnet/Ate-u-Tiv visiting professor office at BSU will be determined by the resident office manager on a case-by-case basis.

11. BSU and the visiting professional’s institution’s code of conduct will govern visiting professors. ALL visiting professors shall honour these codes of conduct.