Ties with universities abroad give edge to Howard students
Three Chinese nationals who enrolled in 1870 were among the first international students at Howard University. Since then, Howard has continued to open its doors to international students to cultivate a multicultural educational experience for its students.
Established in 1867, Howard has served as a beacon of equality in the educational system of the United States as it shattered what was then the traditional system of segregating students of different ethnicities.
"We had a fairly integrated system from the beginning of the university," says Dr Wayne Frederick, Howard's 17th president. "We provide education to those who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity."
Howard's long history of educating students from all corners of the globe makes the school a perfect venue for academic and cultural learning. It offers wide varieties of pedagogies under the schools of arts and sciences, business, communications, dentistry, divinity and education. The university also excels in providing engineering, architecture and computer sciences, law, medicine, social work and graduate school programmes.
As a trailblazer in breaking cultural barriers in an academic setting, Howard continues to strengthen ties with students and universities globally, particularly those from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). Howard students are given opportunities to join exchange programmes for a richer learning experience.
"BRIC countries continue to grow rapidly and gain economic and cultural influence," Frederick says. "At Howard, we remain committed to ensuring that our students are globally competent and engage the world around them."
Howard has developed initiatives, such as the Freshman Leadership Academy (FLA), to expose its students to different cultural and academic experiences. An important focus of the FLA is the mandatory study of Putonghua, China's official language, which is taught by several Fulbright scholars from China. To further train its students, Howard is in the process of making Chinese studies an academic minor.
Aside from the FLA, Howard is expanding its plans for increased co-operation with Chinese universities in response to an initiative by President Barack Obama to raise the number and diversify the composition of American students studying in China.
"We'd like to see an increase in knowledge exchange between universities," Frederick says. "We also would like to invite more Chinese students and their faculty to experience Howard, because that enhances the diversity and richness of the educational product that we provide."
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