Transformational International Relationships

Rutgers has long been globally engaged across many disciplines, with hundreds of faculty members involved in research projects around the world. For example:

  • The New Jersey Medical School’s Global Tuberculosis Institute is involved in the effort to conquer and cure TB worldwide.
  • Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences faculty are part of a project that instructs dieticians in Malaysia in nutrition-focused physical examination.
  • Business faculty work to strengthen supply chains for international disaster relief.

Two newer projects took innovative approaches to supporting social and economic growth.

two students walking in a field in GreeceGreece: In 2018, an initiative led by Rutgers University–New Brunswick received a $27.5 million grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to train young people in Greece for jobs in agriculture and food-related businesses, tapping expertise within the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, including the Food Innovation Center. The grant was the largest by a philanthropic foundation in Rutgers’ history as of 2019.

 

Rutgers President Robert Barchi standing with Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi at a Rutgers football game

Botswana: In 2019, Rutgers signed an agreement with leaders in the Republic of Botswana to launch the Mahube Partnership for Transformation, an initiative to exchange knowledge and develop programs that help Botswana address its strategic development goals. Unique in its nature—a partnership between a university and a nation—the collaboration focuses on health care, information technology, higher education and research, entrepreneurship, and civic leadership to help Botswana transform from a predominantly natural resource-based economy into a knowledge-based one.