UC Santa Cruz was honored to host international delegations from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Ashoka University, and the University of Melbourne.
The delegation from UABC, led by Rectór Luis Maestre, included Alejandra Zubikarai, Consul General of Mexico, San Jose and Samuel Stanford, Consul for Economic Affairs, San Jose. The visit was aimed at exploring research synergies with UC Santa Cruz and occurred on the heels of the recently announced call for proposals from the UC Alianza MX office that aims to increase faculty research collaborations between UC campuses and UABC, specifically in the areas of artificial intelligence, migration, and public health.
To begin the visit, UABC engaged in conversation with UCSC campus leaders, highlighting research priorities and exploring strengths and potential areas of synergy between institutions. This was followed by research presentations from UCSC faculty highlighting relevant connections with UABC, Baja California, or Mexico/Latin America in general. A luncheon hosted by Chancellor Larive allowed for discussion and consolidation of themes and ideas raised during meetings throughout the day.
A delegation from the University of Melbourne, led by the dean of the Faculty of Science Moira O’Bryan, visited UC Santa Cruz on November 7. The delegation met with the dean of the Division of Physical & Biological Sciences, Bryan Gaensler, and made visits to the Coastal Science Campus where they met with faculty from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Additionally, the delegation visited the Genomics Institute to meet with the dean of Baskin Engineering and other select faculty. Currently, UC Santa Cruz has a bilateral student exchange agreement with the University of Melbourne. The delegation from Melbourne explored opportunities to build on this existing partnership with other activities such as faculty and graduate student research exchanges.
The Division of Global Engagement is excited to be developing a new agreement for student exchange with Ashoka University, UCSC’s first in India. The opportunity to establish this new partnership came about as a result of Chancellor Larive’s trip to India in March to meet with prospective institutional partners. Dr. Vanita Shastri, the Dean of Global Education and Strategic Partnerships at Ashoka also visited UC Santa Cruz on October 26 to tour the campus and meet with several people including the chair of Economics, Alan Spearot; the new Executive Director of Global Mobility, Alice Michel; Crown Provost and Faculty Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED), Manel Camps, and CIED Program Manager, Nada Miljkovic.
“Starting the academic year with three important delegation visits has set the tone for an exciting and productive year for partnership development at UC Santa Cruz. ,” said Director of Global Initiatives George Sabo. “Continuing to nurture these connections is instrumental to creating a broad range of international academic and collaborative research opportunities for faculty and students.”
The UC Santa Cruz campus community can use GlobalConnect, the official international connections and activities database, to find information about the institutions that UC Santa Cruz is engaged with throughout the world.
Visit the partnerships section of the Global Engagement website to propose a new partnership. For questions about the proposal or development of an agreement, contact Director of Global Initiatives George Sabo at gsabo@ucsc.edu.
Through delegation visits, the Division of Global Engagement develops meaningful international partnerships to enhance student mobility, research, online learning initiatives, and faculty and staff opportunities.
Broadening and deepening institutional partnerships with universities abroad is key to our Strategic Plan for Internationalization.