IGA’s First Year at HKS
by Matt Homer, Asst. News Editor on April 29, 2009 in HKS News
Promotional materials at the beginning of the school year advertised a number of advantages for the school’s newest concentration, International Global Affairs (IGA). These included “comprehensive and rigorous training,” “the opportunity to receive extra financial aid,” and “a unique opportunity to compete for fully-funded summer internships,” according to the IGA brochure. How has the concentration fared in its first year? Depending on whom you speak with, the answers differ: very well; it’s too soon to tell; or it has been a disappointment.
Like any nascent program, IGA has had its hiccups. Students say the first occurred before classes even started. Those who selected IGA as a concentration in their HKS applications showed up to school to find out that twelve of their peers had already been selected as Belfer IGA Fellows – a program that includes a scholarship, guaranteed summer internship funding, and a mentorship program. Students were perplexed because they had never been invited to apply for the fellowship, and it was unclear how the fellows had been selected.
“They weren’t very transparent with how Belfer Center Fellows were selected,” said Ben Supple (MPP ’10), an IGA concentrator who was surprised to find selections had been made without even the opportunity to apply.
Alvin Tan (MPP ’10), another IGA concentrator, agreed, saying the notification that he had been selected as a fellow “came out of the blue.”
Students were further disappointed when they found out most of the benefits touted for the IGA concentration were actually reserved for Belfer IGA Fellows. This was particularly frustrating for students who decided to attend HKS because of the perks associated with the IGA concentration.
Eric Rosenbach, director of the Belfer Center, says the IGA program has performed “very well” in its first year by providing Belfer IGA Fellows with year-round and guaranteed summer internship funding and mentorship opportunities with Belfer faculty. In the future, however, he says fellows will have to compete with regular IGA concentrators for summer funding.
According to Rosenbach, the Belfer Center has provided approximately $150,000 in financial aid and $125,000 in funding for research and summer internships in IGA’s first year – money that he says comes directly out of Belfer Center coffers. He also said that despite student interest in Belfer funding, relatively few regular IGA concentrators applied to receive summer internship money (fellows had their funds guaranteed). Students, however, point out that the requirements for the funding application were difficult, especially since students needed to find an HKS faculty recommendation after their first semester.
As a fellow, Tan says the support he has received from the Belfer Center has been excellent. Among other benefits, they have helped him find an internship at the United Nations for the summer. But Tan also sees room to include more international students. This year he was the only international student selected.
Curriculum has been another area of concern for IGA concentrators. In addition to their MPP requirements, students must complete at least three courses “from a menu of four foundational courses” to become an IGA concentrator. They must also complete three additional elective courses.
Tan thought the program was initially restrictive. But, “at the end of the semester I see it really helped me frame certain issues and lay the groundwork,” he said. “Similar to the MPP requirements, it eventually all falls into place.”
As a joint-degree student, James Cabot (MPP/MBA ’11) has more flexibility; he only has to take two foundational and two elective courses. Though he says that he enjoyed his first semester in the program,
Cabot said, “I wish IGA would be more accommodating to language study, which is becoming increasingly important.”
Other students have been disappointed with the required courses.
“IGA has been more like an undergraduate major,” said Nick Lyon (MPP/JD ’11). “If you’re interested in this area, you would have already taken these foundational courses.”
“IGA would also benefit from more classes with non-U.S. perspectives,” said Cabot.
Of the more than 100 students who marked IGA as their intended area of concentration, 60 have signed a letter requesting changes to course requirements. They are also requesting changes to the bidding process, which makes it difficult for students to take popular IGA courses and fulfill their requirements. Students are now hoping the future IGA chair, Professor William Clark, will be receptive to their concerns. Clark will become the official chair once Congress confirms Ash Carter’s appointment.
Despite possible structural changes to the concentration, students still wonder whether IGA is actually a beneficial program. Even if students decide not to concentrate in IGA, they can take the same classes as those in the program; they will still earn an MPP at the end of their two years.
“I love many of the IGA courses, but not some of those required as foundational courses. Given what we are paying to be at the Kennedy School and the limited number of courses that we can actually choose as MPP students, I would rather take those IGA courses which I consider to be of value, and continue to reap the benefits of all the other excellent non-IGA courses offered at HKS,” said Victoria Criado (MPP ‘10), who dropped her IGA concentration this spring.
Without the sweeteners of funding, internship assistance, and mentoring, students are unclear of the advantages of concentrating in IGA.
“How is IGA actually helping me?” asked Lyon.
When contacted for an interview, Professor of the Practice of Public Management and MPP Faculty Chair Malcolm Sparrow replied via email that “the IGA concentration is an experiment, and it is as yet much too early for us to be able to see how it is eventually going to work out.”
The IGA concentration is intended to be rigorous and “leverage the Kennedy School’s unparalleled faculty.” But while they’ve made strong efforts to convince students, the real test of its success, Tan says, will depend on how HKS markets IGA moving forward, both to students and to those outside of HKS, given the lessons learned from its first year.
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