Vice President / International Student Affairs - Alex Alexander

Dear friends.

International students often face additional set of challenges in transitioning into KSG. Our objective is not to differentiate US and international students but to build bridges to integrate and ensure that no one is excluded.

Our mission will be

• To better integrate the international students into the KSG community
• To leverage on our individual and collective experiences
• To better know each other and build bonds that outlast our tenure at the Kennedy School.

Our specific areas of action will include:

Funding : remains the primary concern for international students. We will explore the possibility of increased financial aid either as scholarships or loans by constantly interacting with the KSG financial aid office , alumni, corporations and other sources.

Knowledge Sharing and E-Governance : An ‘international students' on-line portal' would be the most effective way for current, past and future international students to interact. We hope would eventually would serve as a ‘one stop shop' of information and be the primary ‘landing page' amongst the myriad of web pages and information. It would also serve to help new students in transition, assist current students who need to address ongoing issues, and maintain a continuous dialogue with the international alumni in addition to maintaining an updated database of alumni. We will also seek to implement an E-Governance initiative (e.g., to submit Harvard and KSG forms, pay bills, etc.)

Avenues for Cultural and Intellectual interchanges will provide students from different parts of the globe to share their thoughts, ideas and culture

More importantly we would encourage you to ask questions and let us collectively seek answers to the specific challenges faced by international students.