What we do

The Columbia Global Centers promote and facilitate the collaborative and impactful engagement of the University’s faculty, students and alumni with the world, to enhance understanding, address global challenges and advance knowledge and its exchange. The Global Centers, as envisioned by President Emeritus Lee C. Bollinger, were founded with the objective of connecting the local with the global, to create opportunities for shared learning and to deepen the nature of global dialogue.

The eleven Global Centers are located in Amman, Athens, Beijing, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Tel Aviv and Tunis. This network forms the core of Columbia’s global strategy, which is to expand the University’s ability to contribute positively to the world by advancing research and producing new knowledge on the most important issues confronting our planet.

The Columbia Global Centers engage regional experts and scholars and encourage teaching and research across disciplinary boundaries. Some of the Centers’ programs and research initiatives are country-specific, some regional, and an increasing number are multiregional, even global. The Columbia Global Centers are now well immersed in their local regions, and in a position to further leverage their contacts and expertise on behalf of the Columbia community.