Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie this week became the first IU president to visit Ghana, meeting with senior officials at the nation's oldest university, the University of Ghana, to explore ways to expand one of IU's most productive and successful international partnerships.

World-renowned Indian classical music maestro Amjad Ali Khan will visit Indiana University Bloomington as a guest of the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program and as the first School of Global and International Studies Artist in Residence.

During a week in two of South Africa's largest and most dynamic cities, an Indiana University delegation led by President Michael A. McRobbie signed a new partnership agreement with the country's top-ranked business school and agreed to further explore a number of other areas for collaboration and cooperation that could form the basis of partnerships with some of South Africa's premier teaching and research institutions.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie will leave Saturday for a two-week trip to Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, the first trip to Africa by a sitting IU president in more than two decades. McRobbie will also be the first IU president to tour the groundbreaking AMPATH program in Kenya, a partnership between IU and Moi University in Kenya and one of the world's largest and most comprehensive programs to combat HIV/AIDS.

A successful program at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business that last summer taught dozens of college students from the Middle East and North Africa to become entrepreneurs is being expanded this summer to include those from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

To foster greater understanding of social entrepreneurship within the context of American culture, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business is hosting a program for 20 students from across Europe, sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The college-age students will arrive at IU Bloomington on July 1 from more than a dozen countries across Europe, including Greece, Spain and Portugal.

During a visit to Shanghai, IU President Michael A. McRobbie bestowed one of IU's highest honors to Tongkui Ju, a distinguished jurist in China and a 1949 graduate of the Maurer School of Law. He will receive the Thomas Hart Benton Medal, which is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of Indiana University. For more than three decades, Ju has fostered close ties to IU and the Maurer School, hosting students in its alumni shadow program and assisting those hoping to connect with other IU alumni and lawyers in Shanghai.

A newly signed partnership agreement between IU and National Taiwan University, to be signed during IU President McRobbie's first trip to Taiwan since becoming president in 2007, will result in collaborative activities between IU's Maurer School of Law and NTU's law schools. The agreement is expected to expand in the coming years to include other academic programs at IU, which has more than 2,100 alumni affiliated with Taiwan.

Indiana University has expanded on a strategic partnership with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The partnership has resulted in the opening of a new philanthropy center at SYSU, the first major center for the study of philanthropy in South China, which has been modeled on and developed in partnership with the newly named IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

While in Beijing, IU President Michael A. McRobbie signed a renewed agreement of friendship and cooperation between IU and Peking University, the first established modern national university of China, and a new agreement that will generate graduate student and staff exchanges between IU and PKU. He also hosted a special presidential reception for incoming IU students from China, their families and alumni.

Meetings with South Korean higher education leaders, a reception for new Korean students and the renewal of an agreement between Indiana University and one of Korea's top research universities highlighted IU President Michael A. McRobbie's visit to Seoul.

Looking to further broaden Indiana University's international reach and to increase educational and research opportunities for its students and faculty, IU President Michael A. McRobbie will leave Saturday for South Korea, China and Taiwan.

With the world's attention focused on North Korea and Iran, a panel of international negotiation and engagement experts will gather at two IU campuses for a forum, a conference and meetings that will address a fundamental question: Can conflict be avoided?

The Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program at Indiana University Bloomington will present renowned sarangi maestro Lakha Khan in a free performance at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 12.

Michael Guest, former U.S. ambassador to Romania and a State Department diplomat for more than a quarter century, will be one of the speakers at the 15th annual Business Language Conference at Indiana University Bloomington.

Indiana University has been awarded two federal grants totaling more than $600,000 to continue to expand access to training in critical languages and cultures for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and active duty military personnel through the Summer Language Workshop.

Indiana University Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel presented at an inaugural three-day international conference in India focusing on the future of higher education there, which included Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the president of India.

During a visit to two Indiana University campuses, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, president of Thailand's leading graduate-level educational institution, will receive an honorary doctorate.

An expert on the history of Islamic art and architecture who has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University five times and a former deputy minister within the Syrian government has been provided refuge at IU through the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund. He will teach in IU's new School of Global and International Studies.

Feisal Amin Rasoul Istrabadi, director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and a University Scholar in international law and diplomacy at Indiana University Bloomington, has been invited to join the Council on Foreign Relations.

Tarlise Townsend, a 2012 graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, has been named a Luce Scholar, one of 18 recipients of a nationally competitive award designed to enhance understanding of Asia for future leaders.

Students at Indiana University have a new tool that provides them with quick and easy access to knowledge about how to conduct business effectively with people all over the world. IU is the first university in the United States to offer enterprise-wide GlobeSmart, a web-based product from Aperian Global, a company that offers consulting, training, and web tools for global talent development. GlobeSmart provides in-depth information and advice about business, culture, and travel-related topics in more than 65 countries.

Indiana University announced the creation of its first international gateway office. Located in Gurgaon, India -- a suburb of New Delhi -- the Indiana University Gateway-India will serve as a home base for IU activities in the country.

In view of our increasingly interconnected world, Indiana University's Center for the Study of Global Change and the Center for the Study of the Middle East are partnering with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana to internationalize Ivy Tech's curriculum.

Indiana University's Kelley School of Business has entered into a partnership with the newly formed American University of Mongolia to offer an MBA for global executives beginning in September.