URBANA, Ill. — The Global Relations team at Illinois International managed over 390 active institutional agreements in 56 countries this year, amplifying the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) mission to promote global engagement for positive contributions to the community, state, nation, and world.
This achievement among other successes was outlined in the 2022-2023 international engagement report released in December.
Global Relations Director Dr. Sammer Jones said the purpose of this report is exhibit not only the activities undertaken by her unit on behalf of the campus, but also the latest global engagement activities campus wide.
“This report celebrates and showcases our university’s commitment to creating an environment where innovation can move freely across geopolitical, cultural, disciplinary, and academic borders,” Dr. Jones said. “Through this report, we are also pleased to highlight and celebrate the impact of the academic colleges, research institutes, and administrative units who are leading international engagement initiatives across our campus.”
In addition to managing the 393 total agreements, Global Relations also welcomed visitors from 11 countries, pursued greater engagement in the Global South, and celebrated the launch of the Vision 2030 Global Strategy all of which is outlined in the annual report.
UIUC maintains collaborative institutional agreements with other universities, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private corporations to support the unique goals of the university and facilitate the mobility of students, faculty, and staff as they make meaningful contributions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
At a Glance: Current Institutional Agreements
The university currently has 393 agreements in its international portfolio. “Agreements” include anything from study abroad agreements, memorandums of understanding, internships, and scholarships.
These agreements are housed in the different colleges and institutes on campus. For example, Grainger Engineering houses 82 of the agreements, Liberal Arts & Sciences has 73, and Illinois International houses 47.
Also of note are the top countries by number of agreements. Those are China (58); Taiwan (35); USA (32); Spain (19); Japan, Brazil and South Korea are tied with 18 each; France (17); United Kingdom (16); Sweden (11); Australia, Greece and South Africa are tied with 10 each; and Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and The Netherlands are tied with 9 each.
At a Glance: Engagement in the Global South
In partnership with the Offices of the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Research, and Innovation, and many others across campus, Global Relations has engaged in several exploratory visits to emerging partners in the Global South.
These visits align with the university’s Vision 2030 Global Strategy commitment to prioritizing equitable, inclusive, and sustainable engagement in the Global South.
An example of these university-wide developments includes the African BioGenome Project, which is a coordinated pan-African effort to build capacity and infrastructure to generate, analyze, and deploy genomics data for the improvement and sustainable use of biodiversity and agriculture across Africa.
In total, there are 29 countries in Global South from Taiwan to Brazil to South Africa that the university has a partnership or agreement with.
At a Glance: The Fulbright Program
UIUC was among 18 institutions recognized as a top producer for both Fulbright students and scholars for the second year in a row in 2022-2023.
There were eight faculty members and 16 students that earned Fulbright honors in 2022-2023.
The Fulbright program is the flagship international educational program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between Americans and people in other countries.
Global Relations works with faculty pursuing Fulbright opportunities while students are served by the National & International Scholarship Program.
To read more about the 2022-2023 international engagement highlights check out the full report at: https://international.illinois.edu/assets/docs/global-relations/GR-202223-EOY-Report.pdf.
Analicia Haynes is the storyteller and social media specialist for Global Communication. She can be reached at ahayn2@illinois.edu.
