Growing up, Mahlet Shiferaw developed a love for drawing and was a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy genres, children’s classics like J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series and C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia,” and she was “obsessed with drawing unicorns.” MORE
Last week, Dean Bridget Long announced HGSE’s difficult decision to deliver a fully online learning experience during the academic year 2020-2021, due to the continuing and anticipated effects of the COVID-19 crisis on residential learning. As you may be aware, HGSE has also made the unprecedented decision to continue to recruit students through July 13 for the first-ever, fully online Master’s in Education (Ed.M.) , enrolling fall 2020. Making the Ed.M. available online, with full-time and part-time options, is an immense opportunity for HGSE to expand access and to make the program available to applicants who might otherwise not have been able to relocate to Cambridge and/or leave their current jobs.
Visit HGSE’s website to learn more about this program.
Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
Earlier today, Adele and I learned that we tested positive for COVID-19. We started experiencing symptoms on Sunday—first coughs then fevers, chills, and muscle aches—and contacted our doctors on Monday. We were tested yesterday and just received the results a few minutes ago. We wanted to share this news with all of you as soon as possible.
Neither of us knows how we contracted the virus, but the good news—if there is any to be had—is that far fewer people crossed our paths recently than is usually the case. We began working from home and completely limiting our contact with others on March 14 in keeping with recommendations to adopt social distancing measures. In line with standard protocols, the Department of Public Health will be in touch with anyone with whom we have had close contact over the past fourteen days.
We will be taking the time we need to rest and recuperate during a two-week isolation at home. I am blessed with a great team, and many of my colleagues will be taking on more responsibility over the next few weeks as Adele and I focus on just getting healthy. Thanks, in advance, for your good wishes. Thanks also for your understanding if I am not as responsive to email as I normally am.
This virus can lay anyone low. We all need to be vigilant and keep following guidelines to limit our contact with others. Your swift actions over the past few weeks—to respond to the needs of our community, to fulfill our teaching mission, and to pursue research that will save lives—have moved me deeply and made me extraordinarily grateful and proud. I hope to see as few of you in our situation as possible, and I urge you to continue following the guidance of public health experts and the advice and orders of our government officials.
The world needs your courage, creativity, and intelligence to beat this virus—wishing each of you good health.
All the best,
Larry
Lawrence S. Bacow
President
Harvard University
The rot in Nigeria’s educational system is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars.
Over the past academic year, the economic impact of spending by Nigerian students studying in the United States reached $514 million, data from the Institute of International Education shows. The figure outstrips the economic impact of students from France, Germany and the United Kingdom in the US.
Keeping in trend with a long-standing preference for seeking education abroad, Nigeria was the only African country ranked among the top 25 origin countries for international students in the US over the past year. MORE
The National Interest Foundation invites you to join it for a panel discussion on human rights issues in the Middle East and North Africa MENA region. Lunch will be provided. Registration is required.
When: Thursday, November 21, 2019 | 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
Where: Rayburn House Building – Room 2075 | 45 Independence Avenue SW | Washington, DC | 20515
Join this discussion on the 2019 IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Outlook and its relation to competition, competitiveness, and growth in Africa.
When: Thursday, November 21, 2019 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Where: Intercultural Center (ICC), Room 701 ECR, Georgetown University | 3700 O Street NW | Washington, DC | 20005
From November 18-22, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education are celebrating International Education Week (IEW) by encouraging Americans to seek opportunities to study abroad and welcoming international students to study in the United States. International education makes the United States stronger, forging lasting connections between Americans and peers in other countries, bringing benefits to local communities, and generating knowledge to solve shared challenges.
During IEW, events at schools, universities and communities across the United States and around the world will focus on the importance of international education in fostering security and economic growth and highlight why more students should experience international education.
To open IEW, the State Department, in collaboration with the Institute of International Education, released the annual Open Doors report of data and trends in international academic mobility. In academic year 2018/19, for the fourth year in a row, more than one million international students studied at U.S. institutions of higher education, with an increase of .05 percent over last year. The number of American students studying abroad also increased by 2.7 percent from the prior year, to 341,751 Americans.
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduates with financial need for study abroad, including students from diverse backgrounds and students going to non-traditional study abroad destinations. Established under the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, Gilman Scholarships provide up to $5,000 for American students to pursue overseas study for college credit.
Critical Need Languages
Students studying critical need languages are eligible for up to $3,000 in additional funding as part of the Gilman Critical Need Language Supplement program. Those critical need languages include:
Application for Summer 2020 Now Open – Apply by November 19
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program provides overseas foreign language instruction and cultural immersion experiences for American undergraduate and graduate students in fifteen critical need languages.
CLS is part of a U.S. government initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages that are critical to our national security and prosperity. These critical languages are less commonly taught in U.S. schools, but are essential to America’s positive engagement with the world.