A boost to international learning
Setting up a Harvard program overseas is no mean feat. It requires air travel to meet collaborators, scout locations, and ensure that students have opportunities to interact with local people. It also demands consideration of potential risks in sending students to unfamiliar places. The President’s Innovation Fund for International Experiences (PIFIE) was established to help faculty members meet those challenges, with the aim of fostering and expanding the international offerings available to Harvard students. The fund, established as part of David Rockefeller’s $100 million gift in 2008 to foster undergraduate experience abroad, provides support for faculty members to create meaningful international programs. It offers grants of between $5,000 and $60,000 for exploratory or site planning visits, to develop or implement a new international program, or to provide renewal funding for past applicants. “Extended periods abroad have given our students new insights and directions in their academic careers and expanded the ways in which...