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Global Initiatives
Explore the map below to learn more about a broad range of initiatives at Northwestern dedicated to developing international opportunities for students and faculty, supporting transnational research and cultivating global connections. Partnerships include student and faculty exchanges, dual degree programs and executive education programs in more than 40 countries.
Feinberg School of Medicine’s Disaster Management and Community Emergency Preparedness Initiative (DMCEPI) works with a number of national and international partners, including the University of Graz in in Graz, Austria. DMCEPI was developed to address disasters at local and regional scales and their impacts on cities and their communities across entities of practice. DMCEPI works closely with partners such as the University of Graz to provide education, training, community outreach, and “real-world” application to strengthen communities’ awareness and skills in disaster management and emergency preparedness. Other international DMCEPI partners include the WHO and the University of Tel Aviv.
Initiatives in Canada include collaborative work through the U7+ Alliance of World Universities in partnership with the University of Toronto, University of Montreal, McGill University, University of British Columbia and University of Ottawa to tackle climate change, promote ethical uses of AI and digital technology and address other critical global issues. The Kellogg School of Management’s Executive MBA Global Network also supports a formal partnership with the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, the first cross-border Executive MBA Program in Canada, which offers unparalleled opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration to drive global change.
Northwestern has supported a variety of global learning opportunities in Cuba, including short-term global opportunities for Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications students. These courses offer students an opportunity to pair coursework in the classroom with a short-term travel experience, usually over spring break, that focuses on a particular topic or theme. A recent Cuba-based short-term experience offered students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the rapidly-changing socioeconomic dynamics of post-Castro Cuba by talking with experts, going to cultural events and visiting historical sites. Medill offers additional themed short-term global opportunities in other countries such as China, the UK, and Israel.
Northwestern University supports a number of learning opportunities and research initiatives in China. This includes distinctive off-campus research, reporting and networking opportunities in China and globally through Medill’s Global Journalism Learning Programs, as well as the Global Poverty Research Lab’s China Research Cluster, which aims to promote rigorous empirical research on the Chinese economy. Northwestern has also established a number of formal partnerships with Chinese universities, including the Graduate School’s dual-degree program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Kellogg Executive MBA Global Network’s partnership with the Guanghua School of Business at Peking University.
Northwestern supports a number of global initiatives in Denmark, including the Graduate School-supported dual PhD program between the Department of Political Science and the University of Copenhagen’s School of Law. The dual degree program focuses on the study of international courts and allows students to pursue at least a year at each campus and engage with faculty from both institutions. Other examples of Northwestern engagement in Denmark include the 2019 International Symposium on Perspectives on School Leadership at the Danish School of Education in Copenhagen, which welcomed Northwestern University professors Cynthia Coburn and James Spillane as the Symposium’s keynote speakers.
Partnerships and research initiatives in France include a close partnership with Sciences Po through the U7+ Alliance of World Universities, student exchanges organized by Northwestern’s French Interdisciplinary Group (FIG) and dual-degree graduate programs supported by The Graduate School. FIG also supports partnerships with numerous prestigious French institutions including École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. These partnerships support long-term intellectual exchanges and collaborations among Northwestern faculty, graduate students and undergraduates in all fields and their counterparts at Northwestern’s partner institutions.
Northwestern supports a number of global learning opportunities, partnerships and research initiatives in Germany. This includes the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN)’s Global Engineering Trek based in Heidelberg, Germany, created in partnership with the McCormick School of Engineering Global Initiatives Office. The program offers freshman engineering students an opportunity to visit to German-based world-leading companies and research institutes, and gain exposure to global internship and job opportunities. Other initiatives include the Kellogg Executive MBA Global Network’s partnership with the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, which offers Kellogg students an opportunity to study subjects such as European business, luxury goods and corporate social responsibility.
Northwestern supports a number of research initiatives and global learning opportunities in Ghana. This includes research supported by the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health, which works to expand knowledge, capacity and equity in global health through transdisciplinary research and educational partnerships; and the Global Poverty Research Lab’s Ghana Cluster, which supports a range of studies, capacity-building efforts, and policy initiatives aimed at understanding and promoting development in Ghana. The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) at the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Global Learning Office also provides global learning opportunities in Ghana for students to explore complex international development issues through a combination of in-person and online coursework and remote internships.
Northwestern supports a number of research initiatives in Kenya through the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health, which works to expand knowledge, capacity and equity in global health through transdisciplinary research and educational partnerships. The Institute for Global Health supports research focused on pediatric emergency responses in Kenya, as well as numerous other initiatives and partnerships in countries such as Rwanda, Nigeria, Mali, and Ghana.
Northwestern supports programmatic initiatives tied to Indonesia through the Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS)’s Arryman Fellows and Scholars Program, which aims to make a major contribution to higher education in Indonesia by training 25 new young scholars in the social sciences at Northwestern. The Arryman Program began in 2012 in Indonesia under the auspices of the Indonesian Scholarship and Research Support Foundation (ISRSF), which is also working to create a conducive intellectual habitat by building a School of Social Sciences and Public Policy in Jakarta where the Arryman students can continue the momentum they build during their doctoral training at Northwestern.
Northwestern supports a number of global learning opportunities, partnerships and research initiatives in Israel. This includes Northwestern’s Israel Innovation Project, which supports numerous technological and scientific partnerships with Israeli institutions including seed grants for COVID-19 research collaborations between faculty at Northwestern and Tel Aviv University. Other initiatives include student learning opportunities through Northwestern’s Institute for Sustainability and Energy and Medill’s Global Journalism Learning Programs, as well as formal partnerships between Tel Aviv University and Kellogg’s Executive MBA Global Network and Feinberg’s Disaster Management and Community Emergency Preparedness Initiative.
The Center for International Human Rights (CIHR) at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic supports a number of programmatic initiatives for Northwestern students in multiple countries including Malawi. Through CIHR, students have an opportunity to spend a week in detention centers in Malawi with judges and prosecutors and gain an immersive, hands-on, real-world experience in international law, while also witnessing the life-changing fruits of their labor. CIHR also offers students similar opportunities to gain valuable clinical experiences and provide advocacy before international tribunals and human rights bodies in countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Switzerland and France.
Northwestern supports a number of research initiatives in Mali through the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health, which works to expand knowledge, capacity and equity in global health through transdisciplinary research and educational partnerships. The Institute for Global Health supports research focused on Colon and Breast Cancer in Mali, as well as a partnership with the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako at the University of Bamako. The Institute for Global Health also supports initiatives and partnerships in countries such as Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.
Northwestern University supports a number of initiatives in Mexico, including the Mexican Intelligence Digital Archives (MIDAS), a crowd-sourced, public access digital archive of historical documents from the Mexican intelligence agencies created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries, El Colegio de México and Artículo 19. The collection is drawn from Mexico’s two principal security services, the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) and the Dirección General de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociales (DGIPS) and covers the period between 1940 and 1985. Publicly launched in the fall of 2018, Northwestern’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies program oversees the coordination of MIDAS’s creation and activities, which will eventually contain more than 300,000 documents.
Northwestern supports a number of research initiatives and partnerships in Nigeria through the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health, which works to expand knowledge, capacity and equity in global health through transdisciplinary research and educational partnerships. The Institute for Global Health conducts research in partnership with multiple academic and clinical partners in Nigeria, including University of Ibadan, the Jos University Teaching Hospital, and the College of Medicine and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital at University of Lagos. The Institute for Global Health supports additional initiatives and partnerships in countries such as Rwanda, Mali, Kenya, and Ghana.
Northwestern University supports a number of research initiatives in the Philippines through Kellogg’s Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL), which is dedicated to address the challenges of overcoming poverty and improving wellbeing in the developing world. GPRL is in the process of implementing a research cluster focused on the Philippines with support from Innovations for Poverty Action. GPRL’s research clusters provide a common infrastructure for engaging in research and policy work, and seek to remedy the absence of detailed, multi-level, long-term scientific data that follows individuals over time and describes both the natural and built environment in which they reside.
Northwestern University is home to the Puerto Rican Arts Initiative, which was founded in 2017 to help Puerto Rican artists rebuild and develop new work after hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island. Made possible by funding from the University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the program was expanded in 2021 to support a second cohort of Puerto Rican artists creating work and sustaining artistic practices. The second phase of the initiative comes with sizeable funding, more workshops, and a partnership between Northwestern’s School of Communication and the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Fine Arts.
Northwestern University supports a number of programs and initiatives in Qatar at the Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) campus, which offers academic programs in journalism, media and communication. Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications also offers opportunities for U.S. based students to participate in a Global Journalism Residency, which provides Journalism majors with an opportunity to leave campus to work fulltime for, with, and alongside veteran journalists and public relations practitioners in professional environments in Qatar such as Al Jazeera English and Qatar Today. Northwestern also offers a number of Global Journalism Residencies in other locations across the globe, from Africa and Asia to Europe and the United States.
Northwestern University supports a number of research initiatives and learning opportunities in Rwanda. This includes the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health, which supports research in Rwanda addressing obstetric fistula prevention as part of its mission to expand knowledge, capacity and equity in global health through transdisciplinary research and educational partnerships. The Center for International Human Rights (CIHR) at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic also supports a number of programmatic initiatives that allow Northwestern law students to gain valuable clinical experiences in Rwanda, as well as countries such as Uganda, Switzerland and France.
Northwestern University supports a number of global learning opportunities in Uganda. This includes opportunities supported by the Center for International Human Rights (CIHR) at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic that provide students with the chance to gain valuable clinical experiences and provide advocacy before international tribunals and human rights bodies in Uganda and elsewhere. The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) at the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Global Learning Office also provides opportunities in Uganda for students to explore complex international development issues through a combination of in-person and online coursework and remote internships.
Northwestern has supported a variety of global learning opportunities in the UK, including short-term global opportunities for Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications students. These courses offer students an opportunity to pair coursework in the classroom with a short-term travel experience, usually over spring break, that focuses on a particular topic or theme. A recent example of a UK-based short-term experience offered students an opportunity to learn how to pitch and write stories about the arts while exploring London’s cultural offerings. Medill offers additional themed short-term global opportunities in other countries such as China, Cuba, and Israel.
Northwestern University supports opportunities for global learning in Argentina through the Northwestern Buffett Global Learning Office's Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) and Medill School of Journalism's Global Journalism Residency program. GESI provides students with an opportunity to explore complex international development issues through a combination of coursework and an internship in one of nine countries, including Argentina. Participating students are matched with a community-based nonprofit or NGO and travel to Argentina to support various projects related to the environment, ability/disability, public health, youth programs and urban agriculture based on community needs. The Journalism Residency provides Medill students with the opportunity to spend 11 weeks living and working in Argentina while earning academic credit and completing reporting and marketing assignments in Spanish and English. Students can choose placements in online, print and broadcast journalism or marketing communications.
Northwestern University supports opportunities for global learning in Bolivia through the Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) at the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Global Learning Office. GESI provides students with an opportunity to explore complex international development issues through a combination of in-person and online coursework and options for remote or in-person internships in one of nine countries including Bolivia. Participating students are matched with a community-based nonprofit or NGO and travel to Bolivia to support various projects related to ability/disability, the environment, public health, youth programs and urban agriculture, based on community needs. GESI’s community partners in Bolivia include Alerta Verde, Instituto Para Desarrollo Humano (IDH) and the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD).
The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) at the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Global Learning Office provides students with an opportunity to explore complex international development issues through a combination of in-person and online coursework and options for remote or in-person internships in one of nine countries, including India. Participating students are matched with a community-based nonprofit or NGO located in India to virtually support various projects related to public health, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ rights and maternal and child health, based on community needs.
Northwestern University supports a partnership with Kyoto, Japan-based Ritsumeikan University through the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs’ Meridian 180 network. Meridian 180 is a platform for substantive, multilingual dialogue on issues of global relevance composed of scholars, lawyers, policy makers, activists and business professionals who bridge the divide between the academy, industry and public sector to surface novel solutions to global challenges. Ritsumeikan formally joined the Meridian network in 2018 and has since partnered with Northwestern to facilitate dialogues on the challenges facing global cities as result of rapid economic globalization and population fluctuation.