International Initiatives

“We owe it to inspire our students…to recognize that they are not to act like inhabitants of a village, nor like beings of the hour, but like citizens of a world.”

Timothy Dwight the Elder, who would later be Yale’s president, described this obligation to our students in 1776. Yale has been working on internationalization as long as any university in this country. Benjamin Silliman ventured abroad two hundred years ago to learn how to improve and expand the science curriculum for our students here in New Haven. And Yale has been a beacon for those from abroad for nearly as long: when the first Chinese young man ventured to study in the West, he came to Yale in 1850.

Educating leaders for a global society

Yale is among the leading institutions in the world in terms of its international curriculum, overseas study and internship opportunities offered to students, faculty support, and the programs that bring global distinction to Yale.

For Yale to pursue its historic mission of educating leaders in the world, we must continue to develop additional curricula in global and regional affairs so that our students can equip themselves with the knowledge required of global citizens and leaders. We must provide undergraduates, as well as graduate and professional students, opportunities to work or study abroad to broaden their appreciation of cultural differences as well as the globalizing forces at work today. And we need to open our doors to a sufficient representation of international students and scholars, both to have a direct stake in educating the leaders of other nations and to give U.S. students the opportunity to develop personal ties across a range of national cultures.

Pursuing international research collaborations

The reduced costs of communication and reduced barriers to trade and investment have caused profound changes in the international division of labor and the location of production and service activities. The same forces provide an impetus to international scholarly collaboration, creating huge potential gains in research productivity. The Peking-Yale Joint Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agribiotechnology in Beijing and the Fudan-Yale Institute for Developmental Biology and Molecular Medicine Center in Shanghai were two early and notable examples.

Setting the standard

But Yale is more ambitious. With the momentum gained in the first decade of this century, Yale can set the standard for a university in service to the world. It is encouraging that the success of some of Yale’s initiatives—such as the World Fellows Program, need-based aid for undergraduate international students, and the commitment to support all undergraduates in an experience abroad—have helped Yale to be perceived as an international leader. Recasting our mission in global terms and actively encouraging the international activities of students and faculty will continue to strengthen Yale in coming years.

A number of Yale’s most devoted graduates and friends are already committed to this effort. We hope you will join them.

Please visit our Gift Guide to learn more about ways to support international initiatives at Yale.