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Mission Statement

The International Institute coordinates and supports scholarship and teaching on international issues at UC San Diego. We bring together scholars with international expertise from across divisions and disciplines to address pressing problems and increase knowledge of international issues. International knowledge encompasses multiple levels, from local knowledge of languages and sub-national groups, to regional and state knowledge, to global knowledge of international systems, institutions and organizations. We accomplish this mission through Internationalization, Engagement, and Collaboration.

Internationalization

The Institute serves as a resource for faculty and students who approach their research and teaching with an international perspective. Internationalization emphasizes intercultural and international concerns, and involves investigations through area-based fieldwork, archival research, and/or a comparative international perspective.

Engagement

The Institute engages with the wider academic and local communities by hosting visiting scholars, holding workshops and conferences, and providing grants to students and faculty to engage in research that puts knowledge in a comparative or global context. We apply for and help administer faculty research and travel grants.

Collaboration

The Institute fosters a vibrant international and multidisciplinary intellectual community that produces research and policy ideas from across disciplines. We provide funding to faculty groups and collaboratories that have a regional or thematic focus, and we convene an annual conference dedicated to one of the university's four research themes across regions of the world.