Global Northwestern

Northwestern University was founded in 1851 to serve the population of the former Northwest Territory, an area that in the early 19th century comprised the northwest region of the United States. As the University has grown over the succeeding century and a half, it has extended its activities, connections, and influence—initially across the nation, and eventually around the world.

Northwestern’s international connections began like those of most other universities: with enrollment of students and hiring of faculty from other countries and with programs for Northwestern undergraduates to study abroad. Over the decades the University’s prestige has also brought numerous international conferences to the Northwestern campus. Beyond these ties to the broader global community, however, Northwestern has instituted a wide range of specific programs that enhance and expand the University’s international presence.

• The Medill School of Journalism’s Global Journalism program, inaugurated in 1996, is an optional added quarter of study that places graduate journalism students in residencies at primarily English-language news organizations and publications throughout the world. In 2008 the Medill master’s program in integrated marketing communications added a project team residency in a foreign country as an option for the program’s required residency.

• The School of Communication enjoys long-standing partnerships with the London School of Speech and Drama and the University of Amsterdam that allow communication majors to take advantage of those institutions’ special strengths. The school’s annual International Media Seminar allows students to spend spring break exploring media, news, and international communications in Paris.

• The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences offers a global health minor, open to all Northwestern undergraduates, that provides opportunities for study, research, and hands-on experience in Mexico, China, South Africa, France, and Uganda.

• Co-operative Engineering Education students in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science whose Co-op employers have operations in foreign countries have the option of spending a term at that location.

• The Bienen School of Music for many years offered an exchange program for eligible master’s students with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, Australia. Music students regularly participate in international competitions, often with great success, and music faculty members have recently welcomed students and faculty from the Paris and Amsterdam Conservatories for joint master classes and performances.

• In the Kellogg School of Management’s Global Initiatives in Management program, MBA students design a course focusing on a specific industry in a specific country and, as part of the course, spend two weeks doing fieldwork in the selected country.

• The Feinberg School of Medicine currently offers formal affiliations with 14 medical schools in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, providing Feinberg students with opportunities to explore another health care system and culture and to learn about public health challenges different from those in the United States. In addition, the school’s Department of Family Medicine offers the Global Health Education and Community Services program, which provides medical students with international research and community service opportunities.

Several of Northwestern’s international programs are interdisciplinary in nature.

• The Center for Global Culture and Communication is building partnerships with universities in France, South Africa, and Hong Kong in exploring globalization and its effect on culture, technology, and traditions.

• The Global Health Initiative, part of Kellogg’s Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship, is a collaboration between MBA students and McCormick biomedical engineering students that helps deliver AIDS medication and detection devices to impoverished countries.

• Through the Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies, the Kellogg, McCormick, and Feinberg Schools are collaborating to design medical diagnostics for the developing world.

In addition to these global connections, two Northwestern schools offer international degree programs through partnerships with leading institutions abroad. Students enrolled in the programs at these partner schools earn their degree from Northwestern University.

• Beginning in 1996, the Kellogg School of Management has established joint executive MBA programs with the Recanati Graduate School of Management at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel; WHU-Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management in Vallendar, Germany; the School of Business and Management at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, China; and the Schulich School of Management at York University in Toronto, Canada. Students from these partner institutions share an annual international live-in week on the Evanston campus with Kellogg executive MBA students, who in turn may take an elective course during a live-in week at one of the partner schools.

• Beginning in 2003, Northwestern’s School of Law has established joint executive LLM programs for working legal and business professionals through partnerships with the KAIST Graduate School of Management in Seoul, South Korea; the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain; and Tel Aviv University in Israel.

In the fall of 2008 Northwestern’s global expansion reached a new level with the opening of a branch campus overseas: Northwestern University in Qatar. The University’s School of Communication and Medill School of Journalism have joined schools from five other elite U.S. universities to offer degree programs in Education City, a new campus in the Qatari capital of Doha. The Qatar campus gives Northwestern students a host of new opportunities for internships and study abroad while offering a premier Northwestern education in global media and communication to students from the Middle East and beyond.