Fall 2024: KUIA continued commitment to international and global engagement

It gives me great pleasure to provide you with the 2023-2024 Annual Report for International Affairs. I am writing with Chancellor Doug Girod’s announcement of our record-breaking enrollments fresh in my mind and palpable excitement and promise in the air. We have 116 nations represented among our 30,770 students, bringing the world to Kansans from every county and Americans from every state. That this population of students is also our most academically talented, the most likely to graduate in four years, and the most likely to complete a degree program is the clearest evidence yet of a university in positive transformation as it seeks to change the very world we are connected to. 

That story of transformation is the International Affairs story as well. We are both growing and more fully integrating as a division and in our work, and we are partnering across campus and the world in our efforts to bring that world into focus at KU and KU into focus abroad. Our people, research, international development efforts and curriculum speak to an absolute commitment to international and global engagement and a world that is excited to work with KU. 

Our report underscores that KU’s accomplishments are hard earned and the result of thousands of inspiring stories of passion, commitment and intellectual curiosity. We did not get to record-breaking enrollments by accident! 

While we plan, align and invest in our capacities, we are in the end all about people, and it is through their positive transformation that our impact is manifested and truly shines. We are a vibrant learning community. 

Inside, you will read about us welcoming KU’s five areas studies centers and two provost fellows into International Affairs, a dream that was 20 years in the making and a vision that I read about even before arriving to KU back in 2005. You will also read about our faculty and how they are transforming our teaching, research and contributions to society through internationalization. Their stories are KU’s stories, and it is exciting to see these leaders’ powerful work gaining institution-wide recognition and integrated into our identity as a world-class university. 

You will be inspired by the stories of our students as well; young people who have been transformed by participating in a Fulbright program, coming to Lawrence as an exchange visitor and studying abroad to explore an academic major in a national context other than the United States. These stories bring us joy and inspiration. They drive us forward with excitement and a conviction that there is always more to do, more bridges to build and more contributions to make.  

I hope you enjoy our report as much as we enjoyed pulling it together. This is such a rewarding process each year. Looking back on where we have been enables us to shift our gaze forward with renewed vigor and a conviction that we are doing incredible good in the world. 

Thank you, as always, for your continuing support. We do this work for you too, and we are so grateful that you are part of our global community. 

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Charles Bankart 

Senior Internationalization Officer