The International Projects Office (IPO) was created to enhance internationalization at UW–Madison and abroad. Since its founding in 2017, IPO has worked with campus partners to develop higher education-related projects, partnerships, and initiatives that bring UW expertise to institutions and organizations across the globe, with a focus on consultation, capacity-building, collaboration, and partnership-building.
IPO emerged out of UW–Madison’s partnership with Nazarbayev University (NU), an English-language research university in Astana, Kazakhstan, which was established in 2010. UW–Madison was a member of NU’s original group of strategic international partners, a status it maintained through 2024. Throughout that period, UW–Madison contributed to the development of NU’s undergraduate and graduate schools and provided opportunities for professional development for faculty, staff, administrators, and students from both universities through consultations, capacity building training and programming, mobility, and strategic planning. Now guided by a Memorandum of Understanding, UW–Madison and NU seek to enhance scholarly ties and academic collaboration opportunities for their faculty, students, and staff.
Beyond the UW-NU partnership, IPO has engaged in projects and partnership-building throughout the world. One example is a technical consultation and capacity-building project that was funded by the United Nations Development Programme Crisis Bureau during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A working group of experts from UW’s College of Engineering and School of Medicine and Public Health worked with engineers and health care professionals at universities and institutions in Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Maldives, Sudan, and Yemen to create locally-sourced personal protective equipment (PPE) products and medical equipment when global supply chains were disrupted.
IPO has served as a nexus for collaborative, fee-for-service international projects that involve the partner institution/organization and two or more UW–Madison units and/or schools/colleges/institutes. IPO has provided development, coordination, and operational support regarding capacity building and systems strengthening work via internationally-focused contracts and grants.
For inquiries, please contact the International Division’s International Strategies and Partnerships staff at agreements@international.wisc.edu.