The Division of Continuing Education and University Extension School is a part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard University responsible for various undergraduate, graduate, and non-degree programs that enroll approximately 20,000 students each year. In contrast to the other degree granting schools within FAS, such as Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), the division has open enrollment and tuition on a per course basis. This enables part-time undegraduate and graduate students, undergraduates at other colleges and universities, and adults in the Boston area access to Harvard's faculty, laboratories, library system, and facilities.
Programs
Currently, the Division of Continuing Education comprises four major programs:
- The Harvard Summer School
- The Harvard Extension School
- The Harvard Institute for English Language Programs, and
- The Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement
The Harvard Summer School, founded in 1871, is the oldest academic summer session in the United States. Each summer more than 5,000 students of all ages come to Harvard from across the U.S. and nearly 80 foreign countries to study for eight weeks with faculty from Harvard and other major American and foreign universities. The Summer School offers approximately 200 daytime and evening classes in over forty disciplines in the liberal arts, sciences, and engineering.
The Harvard Extension School, founded by Harvard University President A. Lawrence Lowell in 1909, is an academic evening program designed to serve the educational interests and needs of the greater Boston community. The Extension School features open enrollment, part-time evening classes, coeducation, instructors drawn mainly from Harvard, and an opportunity for personal enrichment, career advancement, or study leading to a degree or certificate. The school currently awards the degrees of associate in art (AA), bachelor of liberal arts (ALB), master of liberal arts (ALM), master of liberal arts in mathematics for teaching, and master of liberal arts in information technology. There are certificate programs in administration and management, applied sciences, environmental management, publishing and communications, and technologies of education.
The Harvard Institute for English Language Programs was founded in 1950 to meet the language needs of post-World War II immigrants to the United States. During the academic year, the Institute offers part-time day and evening programs to non-native English speakers in the greater Boston area. During the summer, it offers day and nighttime intensive English language instruction, as well as a business program.
The Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, created in 1977, offers retires and other older adults an opportunity to pursue intellectual interests and explore new areas of knowledge in peer-taught study groups. Each year, approximately 500 people, ranging in age from their fifties to their eighties, participate in the institute's programs.
Organization and Faculty
The Division of Continuing Education and University Extension is led by a dean, who is appointed by and reports to the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The dean of the Harvard Summer School reports to the dean of Continuing Education. The Summer School and the Extension School draw their instructors from among the tenured and ladder-rank faculty in the various Arts and Sciences departments, certain academic administrators, and various part-time lecturers and practioners.
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