Vision 2030 Global Strategy
Building on the university’s distinctive experience as an international campus, the Vision 2030 Global Strategy outlines five strategic priorities that will not only enhance the university’s position as a global leader in higher education, but address critical global challenges to support our state, the nation, and the world.
The university has a long history of global engagement, from welcoming the largest population of international students among public institutions in the United States, to recruitment of outstanding international faculty, robust education abroad programs, and multifaceted partnerships with leading institutions. However, emerging global trends implore the university to explore new strategies to build on this momentum.
Changing demographics in the world population, growing middle classes in middle-income countries, increased global competition for higher education, and increased use of digital and remote learning are just a few of the trends impacting higher education. Under this context, a campus-wide committee of faculty and staff from multiple units and departments were charged to identify strategic priorities and actionable pathways to respond to these trends.
The Vision 2030 Global Strategy is comprised of five strategic priorities that will support the university in realizing its vision to be the pre-eminent public research university with a global impact.
Explore the strategic priorities and actions on the Global Strategy website.
Over the next seven years, we will pursue education for global citizenship; engagement for impact in the Global South; leadership for innovative partnership and development; education for inclusive excellence; and global excellence for the state of Illinois.
Illinois Receives 2026 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of five U.S. institutions to receive the 2026 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization, a national distinction recognizing excellence in embedding global engagement across teaching, research, and public engagement.
Illinois has won the Comprehensive Award twice (2008, 2026) and the Spotlight Award once (in 2025) for the IGlobal Program in the College of Education. Illinois is the only institution to have achieved this combination of awards over time.
Explore how programs, grants, and professional development opportunities supported by the Vision 2030 Global Strategy are shaping learning, discovery, and engagement at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Inaugural conference goes ‘beyond borders’ for collaboration on mental health research and services
The Beyond Borders: Global Collaborations for Mental Health Research and Services conference connected more than 200 students, scholars, and practitioners, both in person and online, over two days of open dialogue regarding mental health.
Coffee, Chemistry, and the Community: New course takes transdisciplinary approach to understanding Panamanian coffee community
CHEM 199 is a transdisciplinary, community-based learning program that focuses on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other topics of importance within the coffee community in Panama.
IGB partners with AfricaBP for inaugural cohort of leadership program
The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology recently hosted its first scholar cohort as part of the African Biodiversity Fellowship for Emerging Genomics Leaders program, organized in partnership with the African BioGenome Project.
From Shame to Celebration: Sierra Leonian Women Reframe the Culture of Menstruation
Journalism students from Illinois joined Fourah Bay College students in Sierra Leone to jointly produce a film examining how women there are responding to the global issue of period poverty by providing washable, eco-friendly menstrual pads to schoolgirls around the country.
‘Place Making and Rural Tourism in China’ wraps up transdisciplinary project
Professor Windy Zhao shares reflections on developing a transdisciplinary, short-term education abroad program in collaboration with the Caoxia Village community.
Student shares experience taking Design Action Hub hybrid course
Faculty and staff at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Siebel Center for Design (SCD) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Johannesburg, South Africa, created a hybrid, eight-week course that successfully launched the Design Action Hub, an initiative supported by the university’s Vision 2030 Implementation Grant.
Hosting the Inaugural Beyond Borders: Global Mental Health Research and Services Conference With Dr. Flora Cohen
Dr. Flora Cohen, Assistant Professor and organizer of the conference, has always been interested in understanding how people from all over the world view their own mental health and healing.
Coffee and chemistry: a unique global learning experience
An ecologist, engineer, food scientist, and international educator join chemists to teach students about the coffee industry.
Staff Global Exchange Program participants share experiences
Katie Shumway, the senior director of community engagement for the School of Social Work, and Chaya Sandler, the experiential learning coordinator and academic advisor for the College of ACES, share how their participation in the staff global exchange program enhanced their global competency.
Transdisciplinary grant funds wayfinding, place making program for Illinois students
One of two projects funded by a new transdisciplinary grant program called, “Place Making and Rural Tourism in China,” is expected to foster community-based learning among students through three courses— ARCH 572, ARTD 499, and RST 594/199.
Illinois launches grant program to foster transdisciplinary community-based approaches in education abroad
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has awarded $156,000 in funding to two groundbreaking projects through its newly established Transdisciplinary Global South Community-Based Learning Program Grant.