University News

In the field of global education, change is inevitable. The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us how interconnected the world is, how global challenges manifest themselves locally and across borders, and how crises exacerbate other challenges such as poverty, inequalities, climate change, political tensions, and educational needs. The multiplicity of challenges reinforces the critical need for students to develop global awareness, skills, knowledge, and sensibilities – all of which make global education more important than ever.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walter Leal, a UC Davis distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the College of Biological Sciences, realized it was in the public’s best interest to have access to the medical experts at UC Davis. Given the state’s stay-at-home orders, he decided to organize and host virtual COVID-19 public awareness symposiums featuring colleagues and longtime collaborators as panelists and guest speakers.

The University of California, Davis, set a new record for external research funding in the fiscal year 2019-20, receiving $941.2 million in awards, a $94.5 million increase from the previous record set in 2018.

For the second time in the past three years, UC Davis has been recognized as a top producer of Gilman Scholars for the 2018–19 academic year—with the university producing the third highest number of Gilman Scholars, at 51, among all U.S. universities with over 15,000 undergraduates.

In the wake of yesterday’s devastating explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, we extend our deepest condolences to our Lebanese students, scholars, faculty, staff, partners and all those affected by this tragedy. We join the world in mourning for the victims and our hearts are heavy for all those affected by this catastrophe.

When the Yolo Food Bank began running a new delivery service to meet the increased need for food in Davis and its surrounding communities in Yolo County during the COVID-19 pandemic, UC Davis delivered volunteers, including staff members, undergraduate students, and visiting Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows Issam Chariag of Tunisia, Fabrice Inkonkoy of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zuomei Ning of China.

This June 18- July 16, the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the University of California, Davis, presented The Future of International Education: Leadership Perspectives from Around the World, a five-part series of leadership conversations about the future of international education, including the role internationalization has in advancing university missions.

We are writing to share our sincere concern, empathy, and commitment to action related to the new guidelines for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) published July 6, by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Please be assured our entire campus and the entire University of California system remains committed to supporting you and we are here to help. We are heartened by the influx of messages we have been receiving in support of you from students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and more.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of international education will be the subject of an online conversation with leaders from Latin American universities Thursday, July 16.

On July 6, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published new guidelines for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVP, that impacts thousands of our international students at UC Davis. Like our colleagues across campus and throughout the University of California system, we are deeply concerned by these new guidelines as they are an abrupt departure from the Homeland Security guidance provided for spring and summer 2020 and they run counter to our values at UC Davis. In fact, these guidelines are cruel and thoughtless. We want to assure you that UC Davis remains committed to supporting our international students and scholars who add enormously to the excellence that puts us amongst the world’s leading research and teaching institutions.