Strategic Partnerships

Global Relations will work with faculty and a variety of campus constituents to identify those agreements with the greatest potential to be leveraged into broader strategic partnerships. There are several existing strategic partnerships that have been active for several years.

BRIDGE: Birmingham–Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement and Education

In March 2014, the University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign formed the BiRmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, EnGagement and Education (BRIDGE) creating a framework for continued collaboration and investment to grow the strategic partnership between the two institutions. The BRIDGE framework aims to deepen these existing collaborations and develop wider faculty networks to: build cognate research areas; expand educational exchange opportunities; and strengthen strategic aspirations for institutional engagement. Engagement currently spans over 70 established faculty-to-faculty links in key academic disciplines. Visit the joint BRIDGE website to learn more about the scope of the partnership.

BRIDGE Seed Fund

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Birmingham have jointly established the BRIDGE Seed Fund of $200,000 to stimulate wider academic engagement between the two universities. Faculty members at both institutions are encouraged to apply. Click the button below to learn more about BRIDGE and its funding opportunities.

Illinois-NTU Global Issues Forum

The Illinois-NTU Global Issues Forum is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and National Taiwan University (NTU). This first edition of the Illinois-NTU Global Issues Forum, Smart Cities, Healthy Cities took place in Taipei, Taiwan in 2014 and focused on the cross-disciplinary challenges of global urbanization. Looking at such areas as urban analysis, governance, health, work, networks, the Forum hoped to enhance the value of multidisciplinary collaboration between both research institutions. The debates were designed to provide an ambitious connecting platform for the exchange of expertise across a broad spectrum of knowledge fields.

In the fall of 2017, the university hosted the second Illinois-NTU Global Issues Forum: Health in Smart Urban Environments. The 2017 Forum explored key challenges and opportunities arising from the dramatic increase in urban populations around the world. The forum brought together faculty who focus on the development and deployment of technologies to reliable, responsive, and sustainable urban infrastructures, environmental impacts and sustainability issues in expanding urban areas, and human factors that affect and are affected by urban lifestyles.

INSPIRE: Illinois–Sweden Program for Educational and Research Exchange

Winner of IIE's 2016 Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education, International Partnerships Category

The Illinois-Sweden Program for Educational and Research Exchange (INSPIRE) is an educational alliance between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and three leading institutions of higher education in Stockholm, Sweden: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and Karolinska Institutet.

Kyushu University & University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kyushu University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign renewed their academic exchange agreement and established a new strategic partnership on August 26, 2019. The two universities already have a strong history of collaboration regarding energy and environmental research for reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), which is based at Kyushu University and has a satellite institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

ZJUI: Zhejiang University-University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Institute

The Zhejiang University-University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (ZJUI) Institute is a new engineering college on the new Zhejiang University International Campus in Haining, China, about 120 km southwest of Shanghai. The ZJU-UIUC Institute conducts teaching and research in broad program themes of engineering and system sciences; information and data sciences; and energy, environment, and infrastructure sciences. The Institute also offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil and environmental engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. This strategic partnership originates out of the Grainger College of Engineering.