The Division of Global Engagement (GE) works with faculty to build partnerships with institutions around the world on behalf of UC Santa Cruz, in support of teaching, research, and service.
In Summer 2020, GE will introduce a new process for establishing international partnerships to improve turnaround time on agreements, provide more detailed guidance for proposing, and developing more elaborate partnership models, such as student exchange.
Faculty who are seeking a general MOU to support their collaborations with colleagues or institutions abroad may still propose a partnership to GE at any time. Faculty and departments interested in developing exchange programs and other types of international mobility partnerships, many of which require longer implementation timelines, are requested to submit partnership proposals to GE by specific deadlines, in the fall and spring each academic year.
In recent years, GE has focused on developing partnerships that expand student mobility and experiential learning opportunities for UC Santa Cruz students. “Over the past few years, we have built new student exchange opportunities at 14 top universities across Europe and Asia,” said George Sabo, Director of Global Initiatives.
Partnerships for student exchange allow UC Santa Cruz students to study abroad at partner universities while continuing to earn credit toward their degrees. Students from partner universities also come to study at UC Santa Cruz, contributing to the diversity and global perspectives of our campus academic community.
Global Engagement continues to look for ways to grow and diversify UC Santa Cruz’s portfolio of partner universities to develop more innovative global opportunities for students. Talks are underway with several partners abroad to develop a summer research internship program, to launch in Summer 2021.
“Ideally, these partnerships grow out of the strong collaborations our faculty already have with researchers and institutions abroad,” said Sabo.
Global Initiatives, within the Division of Global Engagement, manages international partnerships at UC Santa Cruz, working alongside faculty and academic departments as well as their institutional counterparts abroad.