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The International Center promotes relationships with educational institutions, student and faculty exchanges, and joint research projects through international academic exchange and collaboration.

International Research

Research and creativity crosses borders, and the grand challenges facing our  commonwealth, nation  and world are often inherently transnational in nature. The best ideas, the transformative science, the most innovative creative expression, can come from anywhere. The UK International Center supports faculty in doing research outside the U.S., building international research collaborations, and strengthening global professional networks. International Partnerships & Research collaborates with the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) to strengthen research security and ensure that UK researchers comply with all relevant federal and state regulations and guidelines when engaging in international research.

UK's Global Footprint

As the flagship, land-grant, public research university serving the Commonwealth, the University of Kentucky is engaged in local, regional, transnational, and global relationships. The UK Global Footprint compiles and visualizes data on UK's global engagement activities to support existing activities and enhance strategic decision-making.

Global Footprint

Recent News

UK recognized with 2026 IIE Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education

  LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 4, 2026) — The University of Kentucky has been recognized as a winner for the 2026 IIE Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education in the category of Strategic Partnerships for Shoulder to Shoulder Global. The Institute of International Education (IIE) bestows this honor to recognize and support the innovative and successful models for developing and expanding international education in practice today. 

UK students explore Australia’s equine industry

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 27, 2026) — Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” A group of University of Kentucky students set out to prove that quote true as they began their summer break with an Education Abroad program to Australia.

Beam Institute students gain global spirits experience in Scotland

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 25, 2026) — Bourbon is one of the Commonwealth’s signature industries, but Kentuckians aren’t the only group to pride themselves on their whisky. Students from the University of Kentucky James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits (JBBI) and the Lewis Honors College traveled to Scotland this summer to learn more about how spirits are made and marketed around the world.