Win-Win Partnerships

IEL Program Serves Harvard Affiliates

Harvard employees Maria Costa Lopes, Anie La Fleur, Alejandro Itturralde, and Maria Corniel hold Shinagel Awards presented by Dr. Lilith Haynes, director of the IEL Program (left). Also pictured are IEL instructor Mahtab Rezvani (third from left) and Bridge program director Carol Kolenik (right).

In addition to Harvard employees in the Bridge to Learning and Literacy Program (Bridge), many Harvard affiliates--whether on the Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP) or paying full fees--enroll in classes offered throughout the year by the Institute for English Language Programs (IEL) at the Harvard Extension School. Since IEL classes are offered from 9 am to 9:30 pm four days a week, they are convenient for a wide spectrum of Harvard affiliates who wish to improve their English language proficiency. Some of these affiliates are Harvard employees, but many others are their relatives, and the enrollment of these students term after term demonstrates the continuing appeal of IEL classes across the many Harvard campuses.

Other members of the Harvard community who take IEL courses are students from Harvard graduate schools. The IEL Program provides tuition waivers to students in the Graduate School of Design who need training beyond participation in IEL's preprofessional summer intensive course, English for Design, as well as to students in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) who need improved language proficiency in order to successfully fulfill their coursework and teaching responsibilities.

In spring 2002, there were 176 Harvard affiliates enrolled in IEL courses, of whom 102 were participants in the Bridge program. In summer 2002, when many Harvard Facilities and Maintenance personnel are on leave, there were 88 affiliates, none of whom were Bridge participants. In fall 2002, there were 173 affiliates, including 84 Bridge participants. This spring there are 82 Bridge participants in IEL classes, one of which is being offered, after a long hiatus, on the Longwood campus.

Returning to some of its earliest forms of collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), the IEL Program has significantly increased its outreach to GSAS students who need additional English language training and has added two new programs--tuition waivers and a special Integrated Skills class.

GSAS students who have used up their GSAS English language training allocation (of either one IEL course or a term with the Bureau of Study Counsel) and still need to strengthen their writing or speaking proficiency can now receive tuition waivers. In the current academic year, 27 GSAS students received this benefit. The IEL Program also offers an Integrated Skills class for GSAS students at the highest level of proficiency. Often, GSAS students do not attain this level of proficiency on the Harvard University English Language Placement Test and must join professionals and other Extension School students from the Greater Boston area in regular IEL sections at lower levels. In all cases, GSAS students benefit from targeted guidance in overcoming their linguistic shortcomings, and very often they also forge helpful new relationships beyond their departmental worlds.

Apart from offering tuition waivers throughout the academic year, in the past three summer sessions IEL has conducted a four-week intensive program for approximately 35 international students admitted to various FAS departments. This English Language Program (ELP), which is underwritten by GSAS, combines intensive language training with a unique opportunity for a cohort of GSAS students to build a community as they immerse themselves in the cultural mores of American academic life and develop a balanced appreciation of the academic skills that served them so well in their home countries.