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.
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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.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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.
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.
Northwestern University supports opportunities for global learning in South Africa through the Medill school of Journalism's
Global Journalism Residency program. The program provides Medill students with the opportunity to spend 11 weeks living and working in South Africa while earning academic credit and completing reporting and marketing assignments in online, print and broadcast journalism. Students are oriented through immersion in local issues, interviews with media contacts, and tours of Johannesburg and Cape Town sites.
