Institutional Engagement
As an educational institution focused on the public good, Bard College Berlin aims to rethink the relationship between the theory of the seminar room and the reality of the outside world. By engaging in international and local projects and partnerships, the institution seeks to improve quality and access to higher education worldwide and to respond to current issues in our societies.
The Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC)
The extreme indignity and ruthlessness that define our times call for a new and resolute generation of citizens who are committed to initiate change – idealistic and impactful change that is targeted toward increasing the
communal well-being instead of the individual being well-off.
In 2015 Bard College Berlin established the
Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC), a scholarship program that is aimed at young, promising, strong-willed individuals from regions of crisis or conflict. Over the past three academic years, 32 four-year scholarships were awarded to Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian, Greek, Brazilian and Eritrean students who will become much-needed change agents internationally and/or in their home countries.
Student stories
Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education
In response to the unprecedented acceleration of forced migration throughout the world due to war, persecution, poverty, and climate change, Bard (Annandale and Berlin), Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, and Vassar colleges joined forces in early 2016 to found the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education (CFMDE). While governments, NGOs, religious relief agencies, and tech innovators across the globe have devised an array of specific—and sometimes conflicting—responses to forced migration, we came together because we believe that institutions of higher learning can and must have a different, but equally vital, focus. We are uniquely positioned to drawn on our robust local, national, and international educational and cultural networks to prepare our students for a deeper, more nuanced understanding of forced migration and displacement. CFMDE is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
As a result of CFMDE funding, Bard College Berlin is able to enhance its innovative curriculum in migration studies in a number of key ways.
