World Bank Group and the Milken Institute have joined forces by signing an MOU to promote HBCUs. This will increase their collaboration in promoting inclusive and sustainable engagement with these Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This new agreement builds upon a previous Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2022 between the World Bank Group and six HBCUs in the United States.
This partnership aims to create career development opportunities for students and subject matter experts while fostering social and economic development.
The previous pilot agreement between the World Bank Group and HBCUs establishes a framework that allows the World Bank Group to benefit from the valuable talent and research conducted by HBCU students and faculty. In return, HBCU students and faculty gain access to the World Bank Group’s extensive resources in development knowledge, data, and analytics.
Furthermore, this initiative aims to enhance awareness and understanding of international development and the work carried out by the World Bank Group within the HBCU community.
HBCUs were specifically invited to participate in this collaboration in order to explore opportunities for development and advancement, as well as potential partnerships for their respective institutions.
These institutions, both public and private, were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and have a strong commitment to providing a rigorous and relevant education for all students, with a particular focus on African Americans.
World Bank Group President David Malpass emphasized the importance of people, ideas, and skills exchange in addressing the significant challenges faced by development. The World Bank Group is actively establishing partnership platforms worldwide to connect educational institutions and individuals. The expanded collaboration with the Milken Institute will open up new avenues for joint efforts.
The Milken Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank, focuses on accelerating tangible progress towards a fulfilling life. Through its emphasis on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, the Milken Institute brings together innovative ideas and resources to develop comprehensive strategies for tackling pressing global issues.
Richard Ditizio, Chief Executive Officer of the Milken Institute, expressed that this Memorandum of Understanding aligns naturally with their work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in general and their focus on communities of color and HBCUs specifically. He welcomed partnerships like this one to further implement their initiatives and thoughts on these matters.
The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.”
World Bank Group and the Milken Institute have joined forces by signing an MOU to promote HBCUs. The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration between the two institutions, facilitating opportunities for students from HBCUs.
The existing partnership between the World Bank Group and the Milken Institute already includes programs such as the IFC-Milken Institute Capital Markets Education Program and the Public Financial Asset Management Program in collaboration with the Bayes Business School at the City University of London.
The objective is to cater to the requirements of public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and pension fund regulators by providing them with the necessary resources to efficiently handle sovereign financial wealth. This includes responsibly broadening the range of assets they can invest in, with the ultimate goal of attaining economic stability and fostering long-term prosperity for future generations.
Source: World Bank Press Release
