Harvard Kennedy School Diversity Report Shows Rise in International Students

The Harvard Kennedy School’s proportion of international students climbed for the fifth year in a row to 59 percent, according to an annual diversity report released on Thursday.

The marginal increase — a 3 percentage point jump from last year — expands the Kennedy School’s lead as the most international school at the University and comes as HKS works to improve its offerings for students hailing from abroad.

The report also found virtually no change in the demographic makeup of its overwhelmingly white and male faculty — findings that come amid growing student calls for the school’s teaching body to better reflect the diversity of its students. Per the report, only one more faculty member came from abroad this year compared to 2023.

The total number of students enrolled at the Kennedy School rose marginally by 3 percentage points to 1,042 students, marking a rebound from the school’s lowest enrollment of 915 students in November 2020 since the school started releasing diversity reports in 2018.

The annual report also offered insight into the racial demographics of HKS’ student body following the first cycle of admissions without affirmative action.

Though the Kennedy School did not release demographic data specific to the latest cohort of accepted students, the report found that overall, the percentage of U.S. students who self-identified as Asian fell from 25 percent to 22 percent while the share of students who identified themselves as white and Black or African American slightly increased.

Harvard College and Harvard Law School both reported drops in the share of students of color in their first classes after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action. The College saw a 4 percentage point drop in Black student enrollment, while the Law School reported a 8 percentage point drop in its share of students of color.

HKS’ student and faculty gender breakdown stayed mostly constant, with a marginal increase in the share of students and faculty who self-identified as female, per the report. Still, the share of female master’s in public administration in international development students dropped by 6 percentage points to 43 percent of the student body.

The diversity report provides benchmark numbers to mark HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein’s tenure, which began on July 1. During the dean search process that selected Weinstein, students called on the Kennedy School to choose a leader committed to expanding the diversity of the school’s faculty and student body.

In a school-wide email announcing the report, HKS Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Robbin Chapman wrote that the Kennedy School “is consistently working to build a diverse community of faculty, students, and staff so we can take full advantage of the opportunities for training principled leaders and partnering to solve critical public problems.”

Under Weinstein’s predecessor, Douglas W. Elmendorf, the Kennedy School saw a more than 50 percent drop in students identifying as Black or African American in 2023 compared to 2021. In an email at the time, Elmendorf announced the formation of a new diversity task force with the dual purpose of increasing student body diversity and helping the school comply with the Supreme Court’s decision striking down race-conscious admissions.

In her email, Chapman stressed the importance of building diversity among the students, faculty, and staff at the Kennedy School.

“Our mission is needed now more than ever,” Chapman wrote. “I look forward to our work together ensuring a welcoming and inclusive HKS.”

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.