The sheer magnetism of Harvard's international reputation attracts students from around the world like no other university--any-where.

While more recent competitors in the United States, such as Stanford and Duke, gain credibility among American students, Harvard's reputation overseas remains preeminent and appears to be growing.

"The Harvard reputation increases as the square of the distance from Cambridge," says Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67.

Within the United States and much of Canada, other colleges--propelled by their increasing wealth and the press's microscopic examination of every aspect of university life--offer Harvard meaningful competition. They may encroach more on Harvard's once unchallenged reputation than on the yield from admissions, but Harvard certainly faces constant comparisons with its competitors.

Internationally, however, Harvard's position overshadows other American universities and even the local universities, many of which venerate traditions centuries older than Harvard's.

While the reasons behind the international attraction to the University are nebulous, at best, administrators and academics around the world say they include the comparatively flexible undergraduate curriculum, the number of world leaders who spent time at Harvard, the University's generous financial aid policies, the renowned Harvard professional and graduate schools and, perhaps most importantly, the Harvard mystique.

Drawn by these and other factors, more and more international students are applying to the juggernaut across the ocean.

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

Many American universities, like Harvard, are enjoying a surge in popularity overseas, says William R. Fitzsimmons '67, dean of admissions and financial aid.

The liberal arts education these schools offer is becoming increasingly more attractive to foreign students as they realize the benefits of studying a variety of subjects.

In most other countries, college students must specialize from the outset in their chosen career field, such as medicine, law or business. Indeed, in many European nations, students arrive at college after relentlessly pursuing the subjects most germane to their career through their high school years, to the exclusion of other subjects.

While at college, students "read" in only oneor two academic disciplines.

Many countries are now encouraging their topstudents to attend college in the United States,hoping they will return to play a leadership rolein their mother country.

It is Harvard's financial aid policy, however,that puts the school in a class of its own,according to Fitzsimmons. It is one of the fewAmerican universities to offer need-blindadmissions for international students, as it doesfor Americans.

"That message has been very powerful,"Fitzsimmons says. "The Faculty has felt stronglythat it wanted to offer financial aid to foreignstudents."

And, even its competitors realize, Harvard alsooffers international students a world-classeducation.

"If you're talking about research, Harvard isprobably the best in the world," says Robert B.Stevens, master of Pembroke College at OxfordUniversity in England.

Harvard has over 10 centers in Cambridgedevoted to international studies--places wherestudents from abroad can learn about their homecountries from a global perspective.

Although Harvard is younger than many of itsinternational competitors, its age does play arole in enhancing its reputation, according toPresident Neil L. Rudenstine.

"We've been at it longer than most people," hesays.

Harvard will only be at it longer as it entersthe 21st century and focuses more and more on itsinternational position.

THE MYSTIQUE

Although officials at Harvard and abroad citethese reasons for Harvard's internationalpreeminence, most admit there is little logicalexplanation for the world's enduring fascinationwith the school founded in Cambridge more thanthree and a half centuries ago.

Harvard's name simply attracts attention, andthere is no indication this attraction willdiminish in the 21st century.

"Harvard is a reality and an image," Finebergsays. "You can't extract one from the other."

This is more true overseas than in the UnitedStates, where the combination of domestic mediascrutiny and publicity campaigns by other collegestend to remove the shroud of mystery surroundingHarvard.

In Europe, however, many of the other Americanuniversities are relatively unknown.

"The impressions of students here about Harvardare what they might have been by American studentsyears ago," says R. Scott Muir, guidance counselorat the International School of Brussels, where thestudent body comes from more than 60 countries.

Harvard's consistently high ratings in magazinesurveys, such as U.S. News & World Report, onlyenhance the mystique abroad, says Craig W.Worthington, academic dean at the AmericanCommunity School in the London suburb of Cobham,which sends a few students to Ivy League collegesevery year.

"It's perceived probably as being the mostprestigious and the most competitive," he says.

According to Fitzsimmons, this indefinablemystique makes his admission job that much easier.

"The one great thing is the name recognition,"Fitzsimmons says.

The Harvard name, the place and its prominentscholars have become a symbol for something muchmore.

"I think it's because people see in Harvard akind of image of excellence in education,"Fineberg says. "It is built over this long historyof quality in education."

MISSION POSSIBLE

Despite its unchallenged prominence, however,Harvard is not planning to simply rest on itsreputation. The 21st century will be a time ofinternational outreach, on many different levels.

Having made it a point to travel around theglobe for the University, Rudenstine places"internationalization," as he terms it, at the topof his agenda. Last week, in an interview with TheCrimson, he listed international efforts as one ofseveral projects that will occupy the remainder ofhis tenure as president. He says the deans andvice presidents will be meeting with him andFineberg in the autumn to plan strategy.

In parallel with the administration's efforts,the admissions office is continuing to step up itsrecruitment of international students.

"Over the past 10 years or so, theinternational outreach has increaseddramatically," Fitzsimmons says.

The differences between international studentsand Americans become striking for admissionsofficers charged with international recruiting.They find themselves explaining the nature of theAmerican liberal arts education, repeating timeand again that Harvard College does not trainstudents for a particular profession, as studentswould expect in their home countries.

And admissions officers often find that theUniversity's graduate schools are more famous thanthe undergraduate institution.

"We spend a certain amount of time tellingpeople we are not the Harvard Business School,"Fitzsimmons says.

Alumni abroad can be effective recruiters. Theadmissions offices is using its internationalalumni to "open up a pipeline with new students,"according to Rosemary M. Green, associate directorof admissions who focuses on internationaladmissions.

In addition to marshalling alumni support,admissions officers routinely travel around theworld to meet with prospective students in Mexico,Central America, the Middle East, Europe and otherareas. This year, they will visit Turkey, Greece,Slovenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Austria,France, England and Wales.

"In order to get the most talented Americans,you will have to recruit more and more abroad,"says Fitzsimmons, acknowledging the importance ofinternational students in maintaining theuniversity's reputation among Americans.

While Harvard is running hard to maintain itsworld-wide preeminence, it enjoys a head startthat may be insurmountable.

"It's very difficult for any institution tocatch up with Harvard as a research institution,"Stevens says. For example, Oxford University islosing some of its prospective students to schoolslike Harvard because it is impossible for auniversity with, as Stevens says, "a $2 billionendowment and a government that is hostile to it"to compete in research.

"Oxford and Cambridge...in the long run, theirfuture is certainly less assured than Harvard,"Stevens says, dismissing two of Harvard'schallengers.

Perhaps it is this head start that makes highschool counselors and administrators alikeconfident that Harvard will never be surpassed.

"If any other universities get the same statusas Harvard, I've never noticed it overseas,"Fineberg says.CRIMSON FILE PHOTOWORLD LEADER: The University grantedSouth African President NELSON MANDELA an honorarydegree in September 1998.