The World
An unmistakably international institution
In the eighteenth century, three-quarters of Yale students came from Connecticut. In the nineteenth century, three-quarters came from New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In the twentieth century, we became a truly national university. To maintain our preeminence in the twenty-first century, we must complete the transition from a local to regional to national to international university. Today’s graduates will have global careers, and their contribution to society will transcend national boundaries. The growing interdependence of nations requires us to prepare students for global leadership and service. This has implications for the shape of curriculum, the composition of the student body, and the extent to which students and faculty are directly engaged in activities abroad.
Broadening our expertise
Yale’s faculty has exceptional distinction in the study of many areas of the world. Chinese and British history, African art, and the literatures of France, Italy, Spain, and Latin America are just a few examples. But there are important areas of international studies—such as the politics and economics of China and India, and the politics and culture of the contemporary Middle East—that we must develop if we are to offer our students sufficient exposure to nations and cultures that will have an important influence on twenty-first century affairs. Establishing endowed professorships in international studies, in the Law School as well as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, is an institutional priority.
Powerful new midcareer programs
We have recently discovered great value in selectively drawing upon the expertise of our faculty to mount short-term educational programs for established or emerging leaders from around the globe. Most of these programs differ from the executive programs offered elsewhere by schools of business or public policy in that they draw upon the whole range of expertise in our faculty—from history and the social sciences to law, business, environmental studies, and public health. All these programs— the Yale World Fellows Program, the Global Constitutional Seminar (for supreme court justices in emerging and established democracies), the Middle Eastern Legal Studies seminar, the teaching programs of the China Law Center, and customized programs for Chinese university presidents and environmental officials—have been supported with short-term funding from individuals or foundations. It would be desirable to secure more stable support for such efforts to educate global leaders, as well as support for the construction of suitable conference facilities.
Helping international students afford a Yale education
Nearly ten percent of our undergraduates and one-quarter of our graduate and professional students are neither citizens nor permanent residents of the United States.
The provision of need-based financial aid for international students in Yale College, introduced to mark our Tercentennial in 2001, has had a dramatic effect on the quality and diversity of our matriculants, but the aid packages needed by many of these students requires us to seek new endowment for scholarships.
International experiences for graduate and professional students
As we augment the opportunities for Yale College students to study and work abroad, we need to attend to the needs of our graduate and professional students to deepen their work through international experiences. The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale provides partial funding for overseas research undertaken by graduate students. Architecture students travel annually to work with local students on projects in Shanghai and Hong Kong, students at the School of Music perform abroad, and the School of Management takes students to study the emerging businesses of China and India each spring. All these worthy endeavors warrant expansion.
