Policy

The Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) requires that written affiliation or educational agreements be obtained between a College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) and each clinical clerkship teaching facility not owned or operated by the COM (Refer to Standard 6.9 in the latest version of the AOA Document “COM Accreditation Standards and Procedures”).  A signed CORE Membership Agreement or standard Educational Agreement must be on file in the Office of Academic Affairs at OU-COM on main campus prior to students starting a rotation at a given clinical training site in the United States or abroad. 

A standard Educational Agreement refers to an agreement that is in effect for either:

• a minimum of one year for all OU-COM students;  or
• a single rotation for an individual OU-COM student. 

Starting with the class of 2009, if it is known in advance that a signed Educational Agreement cannot be obtained by the 1st day of a student’s scheduled domestic or international rotation, the student will need to work through his/her CORE Administrator to re-schedule the rotation. Rotations must be completed at an affiliated clinical training site for a student to receive curricular credit. 

       Procedure

      1. The CORE Administrator or the Director of International Programs must submit a completed “Educational Agreement Request Form” providing necessary contact information to Academic Affairs by the registration deadline for each academic quarter to initiate the process for generating a standard Educational Agreement. 

       2. Standard Educational Agreements are executed in duplicate - one to be retained at the clinical training site and the other in Academic Affairs at OU-COM.

       3. Standard Educational Agreements are to be signed by the Assistant Dean for CORE and Academic Affairs Operations.

       4. An Educational Agreement for all OU-COM students is renewed automatically for successive one year periods for a maximum total term of three years at which time a new agreement will be issued by OU-COM. 

       5. A database of affiliated clinical training sites is maintained by the Administrative Associate in the Office of Academic Affairs and is available for review by CORE staff on COM-data.