The Harvard Summer School makes Harvard’s academic resources—a distinguished faculty, well-equipped laboratories, fine museums, and a world-class university library—available to students of many ages, backgrounds, and nationalities through an intensive summer session of liberal arts courses in Cambridge and overseas.
Our international student body includes Harvard undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, visitors from other colleges and universities, highly qualified secondary school students, and adult learners. Students take summer courses to challenge themselves academically, meet degree requirements, prepare for graduate school, gain college experience, advance their careers, and pursue personal enrichment.
Students who study at Harvard Summer School may reside in a supportive residential environment, commute to campus, complete courses online, or participate in one of the faculty-led programs abroad. Many come to experience the extraordinary environment of Harvard College academics, resources, and residential life.
Harvard Summer School serves the University community by providing faculty with teaching opportunities that allow them to experiment with new materials and teaching methods. Students from many Harvard schools take advantage of the breadth of summer course offerings to meet requirements for concentrations and degree programs, and to create more flexibility within their term-time academic program. Harvard College students take advantage of the summer session to expand their cultural, social, and intellectual horizons by studying abroad.
