Apply to the Harvard University Aspire Leaders Program: Fully-funded

About Aspire Leaders Program

The Aspire Leaders Program is a leadership development program launched by Harvard Business School professors to transform lives of underserved youths world-wide, and enable them to influence their community.

There are three modules of the youth leadership program; The fully funded leaders program for international students, with a 14 weeks duration.

The 2025 Aspire Leaders program welcomes emerging young leaders to grab this opportunity, portray their culture among other fellows worldwide and gain, and gain access to life-changing grants and educational opportunities.

The mission is to change the lives of young adults who are currently underserved through leadership development programs that make the leader of tomorrow and make a positive impact in their societies.

Aspire leadership program benefits

The aspire leaders program is a free leadership development program for low-income, first-generation college students around the world.

The program has the below unique benefits;

• It brings together a global community of young leaders from over 195 countries
• Access to professional and leadership development workshops
• Provides interactive masterclasses led by world-class educators
• Innovative and exclusive leadership course designed and delivered by Harvard faculty
• Extensive alumni programs with access to funding opportunities, mentorship, networking, and more.
• Global network of peers and young change makers
• A fully funded certificate will be issued after completing key elements of the program
• Seminars with Harvard faculty and world-class educators
• Mentorship and networking
• Fellows may receive community impact grants.
• Academic and professional grants
• Machine-learning based skills assessment and recommendations for improvement
• Access to an online leadership course for free
• Aspire alumni who will complete all the modules will get free access to all the Extended Leadership Programs.

The Aspire Leaders Program has three modules;

Module I (Three weeks)

Personal and Professional Development

• Professional development resources created with Harvard Business School for creating a LinkedIn profile, crafting your resume, tips for interviewing, and how to network.
• Strengths-based leadership skill assessment
• Live interactions among a global cohort of peers

Module II (Five weeks)

Aspire Horizons Course: Aspire Leadership Development

A six-session leadership development course tailored and delivered by Harvard University faculty.

• Week 1: Understanding yourself as a leader
• Week 2: Importance of understanding context and building trust
• Week 3: Digital transformation and Artificial intelligence
• Week 4: Voices of leaders
• Week 5: Addressing community challenges
• Week 6: Live discussions-being in action in communities worldwide.

Module III (Masterclass: Offered throughout the program)

Immersive learning:

• Asynchronous and synchronous learning with a global cohort of peers and mentors
• Master classes are led by world-class educators from universities around the world.

Eligibility criteria

You probably are considering applying for the funded leadership program in 2025. Be sure to check the criteria before you commence the application to avoid unsuccessful application, resulting into wasting your time.

Kindly find the below eligibility;

• You must be 18-29 years of age
• You must be coming from a low-income background
• You must be a first-generation college student
• Candidates currently enrolled in an undergraduate program or recent graduates who are not currently enrolled in a graduate program can apply (graduated within the last three years
• You must have at least an intermediate level of knowledge of the English language.

Application process

The application process for the fully funded Aspire Leaders Program 2025 is online.

Applicants are required to register their email first on the official website. After that, you will receive a verification link in your email.

Verify your email and begin your application for the free online Leadership Program

Be sure to complete all the sections of the 2025 Aspire Leaders Program application.

Answer all the questions and fill in all the details. Submit your application before deadline.

The application process will be take only 15 to 20 minutes to complete, be sure to provide all answers in English.

Aspire Leadership Program learning method

The program introduces the participants to a range of personal and peer reflection sessions built around a series of practical challenges and business simulations designed to draw out the core skills and behaviors required in leading self and others effectively.

Immediate review sessions enable participants to reflect on their attitudes, motives and behaviors, then encourages them to consider how to approach future challenges based upon the experiences gained.

No feedback on any individual performance is given or relayed back to respective organizations and within this safe and supportive learning environment each participant is encouraged to question and challenge themselves and each other through self-reflection and peer feedback.

Each day concludes with a 30 minutes personal audit of the day’s key learning points for implementation both during and following the remainder of the course.

Overall Objectives:

The Aspire to Lead Program enablers participants to understand the roles and responsibilities of a leader, and the relationship between leadership and management.

Through practice, theory and review explore the key internal drivers that affect personal leadership and followership behaviors in the workplace.

The overall objective is to raise self-awareness, through experiential learning, in the following core themes in order to build a personal development plan that will enable participants to lead and influence others more effectively in the workplace;

• Self-image and perception
• Facilitation skills
• Communication and active listening
• Influencing others
• Self-reflection, self-control, self-confidence (the building block of emotional intelligence)
• The themes of fear, trust and motivation
• Learning theories
• Giving and receiving feedback
• The importance of trust
• How to plan personal and daily personal development strategy following the program

Outcomes and benefits of the individual

• A greater level of self-awareness
• A new approach to the use of time
• An understanding of personal values and attitudes that define behavior and performance

Outcomes and benefits to the organization

• Emerging leaders with values and beliefs required in effective leaders, in order to achieve results through others
• Practiced techniques in influencing others and thinking strategically
• Empowerment and facilitation techniques
• Questioning and listening skills

Course outline

Day one: Objectives and outcomes

Practical sessions enable participants to explore the importance of perception, and how this impact upon others positively and negatively.

Communication is explored to enable participants to communicate more effectively. Day one gives participants opportunity to think and reflect upon the positive and negative elements of their own self-image.

Day two: Objectives and outcomes

Day two utilizes practical exercises and theory to enable participants to explore and uncover their own personal drives and motivation.

Group work, facilitated by government team, seeks to align these elements with each participant’s understanding of their own team behaviors back in the workplace.

The theory and practice of emotional intelligence is introduced and applied, enabling participants to identify and reinforce good leadership and team behaviors and recognize, and challenge the negative ones.

Day three: Objectives and Outcomes

Explores how you learn best, and how you can enable your team to learn too. Personal stocktaking sessions, reflect participant on what they are learning about themselves, how they can apply these to their current roles, and how it will impact on others.

A full-length feature film towards the end of the day brings together these core elements of self-image, perception, motivation, and fear with a central focus on trust, and a personal compass for the final day.

Day four: Objectives and Outcomes

It begins with a practical energizer to stimulate thoughts and reflection.

A group session discus the key learning from the previous day and how the core elements from the film apply in the plenary and group work sessions with the penultimate session of the day centered upon each participant giving and receiving feedback.

The final program session enables each participant to play back their personal key learning points gained from each of the four days and their personal objectives following the course.

What is the Aspire Leader Program about?

The Aspire Leaders Program welcomes first-generation university students and recent graduates from around the world to join a free online interactive leadership development journey that managed other commitments.

Who is eligible for Aspire program?

To be enrolled into this program, you must meet the following criteria; A full-time undergraduate students pursuing their first degree.

Conclusion

If you are a young person motivated to make a difference in your community, as well as aspire to become a leader in your desired field, the aspire leadership program has something of great value to offer you.

This apparently is a rare opportunity at your disposal to access leadership training and resources, irrespective of your location or financial background.

Currently, the aspire leadership program is accepting applications for the 2025 leadership development journey, tailored for low-income, first-generation college students, as well as recent graduates globally.