Harvard has long been an international institution, but a new University-wide effort hopes to create a globalization strategy as intentional as it is inherent.
“Today, knowledge is increasingly shared across national boundaries, and challenges must be understood in their broadest geographic context,” Harvard President Drew Faust wrote in a letter to faculty members announcing the new institute and its inaugural grants. “In order to fully participate in an ever more connected world, Harvard must leverage its extraordinary intellectual and programmatic strengths with a more intentional strategy of engagement, ensuring the highest quality and impact for our teaching and research in the decades to come. One way in which I hope to achieve this important goal is with the creation of the Harvard Global Institute (HGI).”
HGI will provide larger grants to projects involving teams of established faculty members, as well as smaller grants to faculty members exploring more experimental topics. HGI’s grants are intended to foster research into topics that transcend disciplinary and regional boundaries, such as climate change, urbanization, education, water, and migration.
The new initiative will be based at the Harvard Center Shanghai, a University-wide center started five years ago, and will involve a wide range of activities, including research, public lectures, conferences and research symposia, a research seminar series, policy consultations with decision makers, public outreach, and a summer course in China for undergraduate and graduate students. Read more.
Also, please see the full story in the Harvard Gazette.