Jordan Times
Friday, May 4, 2007
Harvard’s Women’s Leadership
Board offers scholarships to Jordanian students
AMMAN (JT) — The Women’s Leadership Board (WLB) at Harvard University on
Thursday announced two fellowships for Jordanian students in honour of Her
Majesty Queen Rania’s visit.
The fellowships are for undergraduate women to study at Harvard Summer School,
which caters to students from over 50 countries. The programme will allow the
selected students to expand their academic experience, benefit from exchange and
exposure to different countries and cultures and enhance their leadership skills
through special seminars in communication, strategic thinking and networking.
“Thanks to these summer internships, which combine education with empowerment,
bright young Jordanian women are set to gain valuable leadership skills…
learning from women like you and perhaps sharing some of their stories,” Queen
Rania said.
“Last summer… I spoke of the ‘reverse domino effect,’ where every woman lifts
another up and passes the gift of strength on. That’s what you are doing, and
for that I thank you,” she added.
The WLB said an increased number of young Jordanian women amongst their student
body would serve to increase awareness of contemporary Jordan and the role women
play in the country today.
The Jordanian Harvard summer fellows will live in campus dormitories staffed
with proctors and advisers. A minimum of two to a maximum of six students will
be selected per year to participate and the scholarships which will be available
for at least three years.
Also during her visit, Queen Rania met with faculty members of the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, who briefed her on the WIDE World (Wide-Scale
Interactive Development for Educators) initiative that may soon be exported to
Jordan.
The interactive online courses were created to help a large number of educators
understand how to apply proven research on effective teaching in their own
workplace.
WIDE World, which includes programmes for teachers, coaches and school leaders,
supports collaborative teamwork that engages students, dramatically enhances
performance, and develops school systems as coherent learning organisations.
Queen Rania, who noted her interest in bringing the programme to Jordan,
discussed some of the advancements taking place in the Kingdom’s education
sector.
Referring to Jordan as a regional success story, she said the Kingdom is working
on creating the right environment and integrating technology in the classrooms,
noting that “teachers are the ones that bring it all to life.”
The programme will serve to integrate new educational technologies to improve
teaching and learning, a mission that is in line with the Queen’s mandate to
improve the capacity of teachers in using technology.
The Jordanian education system boasts the lowest illiteracy rate for girls in
the Arab world, and is continuously adapting innovative methods of teaching and
technology to further advance the quality of education.
“There is no doubt in my mind, that Education is the ‘E’ in Empowerment and
Equality — which is why I am particularly proud of the strides we are making in
Jordan in educating our women and girls… [and] that we have achieved gender
equality in schools and have the lowest female illiteracy rate in the region,”
the Queen had said earlier. WIDE World has already started to go global and the
faculty spoke of their experience in China where they are currently in stage
three of implementing the programme.
“The Jordanian education framework is very impressive and thoughtfully conceived
and we look forward to exploring ways of working together,” one of the faculty
members said, in regard to expanding it to Jordan.
About Harvard Summer School
The Summer School offers a full curriculum of arts and science courses taught by
Harvard faculty.
Courses are provided for college credit and follow an intensive course schedule.
Students may enroll for four- or eight-week sessions and will undertake academic
programmes customised for their career aspirations and interests.
Supplementing this core academic programme, the young women will be required to
participate in a series of leadership skill-building classes and activities
designed by the Women and Public Policy Programme with support from the Women’s
Leadership Board.
These sessions will focus on communications, critical thinking, decision-making,
and negotiation skills.
The fellows must meet all requirements for admission to the programme.
Candidates will be selected with preference to women with high academic merit
and demonstrated leadership capacity.
Students must be completely proficient in English and capable of participating
in a highly interactive classroom.
All tuition, room and board, expenses for books, and a modest stipend will be
covered by the Women’s Leadership Board.
The deadline for applications is June 10, 2007.
http://summer.harvard.edu/2007/enroll/calendar/