Introducing the Columbia Global Scholars Program
Columbia Global launches a new leadership development program for M.A. students as part of a growing ecosystem of opportunities for burgeoning leaders to accelerate their path to impact.
What does it take to move from knowledge to action? More than expertise. It takes leadership — the kind that is built through experience, mentorship, and exposure to the complexity of real-world challenges.
Columbia Global's new Columbia Global Scholars program is designed to build exactly that. A comprehensive leadership development experience for second-year master's students, the program equips participants with the skills, networks, and real-world exposure they need to lead in social impact — through a program that fits seamlessly with their ongoing studies.
Leadership development is at the heart of what Columbia Global does — and it is work that has been built up deliberately, over years, across career stages, disciplines, and geographies. Spanning the full arc of a career — including the Social Impact Fellowship for undergraduates, the Early Career Faculty Impact Fellowship, the Columbia Graduate Student Travel Awards for Field Station Research in Chile, and the Center for Political Economy Graduate Student Grants for doctoral students — these programs sharpen our understanding of what effective leadership development looks like in practice: the value of cohort-based learning, of mentorship grounded in real-world expertise, of experiences that push participants beyond the familiar.
The Columbia Global Scholars Program is the latest expression of that commitment, shaped by everything we have learned along the way about what it actually takes to grow leaders who can move ideas to impact.
A comprehensive leadership development experience for second-year M.A. students, the program convenes students from across Columbia's graduate schools during the academic year to reflect the complexity of the challenges they will tackle: democracy, climate, public health, economy, and more. Fellows will spend time at one of the Columbia Global Centers located in 11 cities across four continents — observing social change work firsthand in an international context, and understanding how ideas developed in a New York classroom connect to communities and practitioners far beyond it.
Learn about the program
Explore full program details — what it offers, time commitment, eligibility requirements, and answers to frequently asked questions. Read more.
How to apply
Applications for the inaugural Columbia Global Scholars cohort are due April 24, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Apply now.
Information session
Prospective applicants are invited to attend an online information session on April 2, 2026, from noon to 1 p.m. ET. Register here.
