United Arab Emirates To Donate $1 Million to Harvard Kennedy School

The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court will donate $1 million to fund a fellowship for students from the United Arab Emirates to study at Harvard Kennedy School, school officials announced yesterday.

The fellowship is a part of the Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, a co-curricular program that provides services such as public education about the region and executive education programs.

Students with work experience in the Abu Dhabi government are eligible for the fellowship if they have shown excellence in public service and demonstrated a will to return to Abu Dhabi after receiving their degree.

“This important grant will permit deserving students from the UAE to study at the Kennedy School, thereby strengthening our ability to build a larger and more ambitious Middle East program in the years ahead,” Kennedy School professor and chair of the Middle East Initiative R. Nicholas Burns said in a statement.

The fellowship program will provide a maximum of three students with the opportunity to study at the Kennedy School.

There are currently no students from the UAE enrolled at the School, according to Director of the Middle East Initiative, Hilary Rantisi.

“The Middle East Initiative is the interface between the Kennedy School and the Middle East region,” Rantisi said.

Fellows will have the opportunity to earn a Master’s Degree in Public Administration through the Edward S. Mason Program.

Former graduates of the Mason Program include the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, and the President of Liberia, Ellen J. Sirleaf along with many other world leaders, according to Doug Gavel, a spokesman for the Kennedy School.

“Understanding the culture, achievements, and policy challenges of different countries and regions is an essential quality of effective leadership, so it is imperative that the Kennedy School experience include the broadest possible representation of students from around the world,” Gavel wrote in an e-mail.

The new Abu Dhabi Fellowship joins the Turkish Secretariat General for European Affairs Fellowship in allowing dedicated public servants from foreign countries to study as members of the Mason Program.

The School’s development office, along with several alumni, has been working for more than a year to work out the details of the arrangement, according to Rantisi.