GET News

The latest stories about Global Education and Training's programs, activities, and alumni.

This new cohort, made up of 15 students from around the world who have been accepted into the Fulbright program, will spend a semester on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus taking English language courses through GET's Intensive English Institute.

A delegation from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Feb. 19. The delegation met with senior leadership in Illinois International, Global Education and Training and the Grainger College of Engineering. 

Nurken Aubakir is a 2023-2024 Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) in the framework of the national “500 scholars” scientific internship program by the Center for International Programs Bolashak (The Bolashak Program). He is the Dean of the School of Transformative Humanities at Almaty Management University (AlmaU), which is among the top universities in KZ/Central Asia per the QS World University Rankings. 

The Global Education and Training (GET) and UIUC Shanghai Office team celebrated 30 years of collaboration with Chinese partners in March 2024. 

GET members traveled to China to reignite, continue, and celebrate GET and Illinois’ historic relationships with organizations, universities, and alumni of their joint programs.

The China Executive Leadership Programs 30^th Anniversary Celebration was held in late March.

The Bolashak International Scholarship Program at Illinois is a nine-month program and is designed, developed, and managed by Global Education and Training (GET) in Illinois International. 

The primary objectives of the program at Illinois include enhancing academic and research skills, facilitating collaborative research projects, promoting cultural exchange, and most importantly strengthening the pedagogical skills of the scholars. 

The 2024-2025 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) kicked off its long-term, intensive English training in April.

Bolashak fellows attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign participated in an Oct. 28 Intercultural Spotlight Series event and created a video documenting that event. 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a top destination for the program, welcoming 88 scholars total in 2024 (not all 88 scholars have been on campus at one time because of different program start and end times).  

This year’s cohort is the largest Illinois has seen. 

The Bolashak Program at Illinois can be traced back to 2021 when the university first participated as a host institution, and when Global Education and Training first welcomed only two scholars.

Fourteen faculty members from several universities across South Africa will transform their teaching, learning, and research during a 10-day program starting April 14 on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. 

The visiting cohort is comprised of early-career and mid-career professors. There will also be two advisors/coordinators joining the group. 

These professionals are members of two programs administered by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) called the Future Professors Programme (FPP) and the Accelerated Academic Mentors Programme (AAMP).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Global Education and Training (GET) and Global Relations at Illinois International collaborated with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), a Universitas 21 global network partner, to host a 10-day intensive training program for the Future Professors Programme (FPP) and the Accelerated Academic Mentors Programme (AAMP).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Global Education and Training (GET) collaborated with colleagues at Parkland College and several University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign departments, amongst other local and regional academic institutions, to host a week-long intensive program in vocational education.   

The program, which spanned from May 5 to May 9, benefited a group of 20 higher education professionals (plus two translators) from different colleges in Kazakhstan.   

Gloria Porras, a former student of the Intensive English Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, shares her on-campus experience and opens up about being a scholar at risk. 

Global Education and Training at Illinois International collaborated with the University of Johannesburg in South Africa to host a 10-day intensive training program on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in April 2025. 

The program was designed for a diverse group of early-career and mid-career faculty from universities across South Africa. 

The faculty were members of the Future Professors Programme or the Accelerated Academic Mentors Programme. In the video, three participants share their experience and what they learned following the first week of the program.

GET Program Coordinator Shynar Imangaliyeva submitted a commentary article about the Bolashak program to University World News that was published on June 11, 2025. The article, which is titled A global scholarship with outsize impact at home and beyond, highlights the impact the Bolashak program has within the United States and outlines the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experience.  

The Bolashak program at Illinois continues for 2025-26, with about 30 Bolashak Fellows currently on campus for their 12-month stints. 

Global Education and Training partnered with the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences to host three graduate students from Oaxaca, Mexico in a short research program sponsored by The United States - Mexico Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS).  

The Bridging Borders for Birds: Training Oaxacan Students in Biodiversity Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign fall 2025 program also came to GET through connections with the Illinois-Mexican and Mexican American Students initiative (I-MMÁS).