Last weekend, I returned to the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) for my 10-year reunion. At first it felt that I had studied there in a past life; so much has happened to me (and to the university) since I graduated.

Being there, and listening again to extraordinary professors like Marshall Ganz and Ronald Heifitz, both of whose courses I still actively use in my day-to-day work and that we teach at Amani Institute, and reconnecting deeply with my classmates, all nudged me to remember what makes this school so special. (And that’s not even taking into account the near weekly visits we used to get from international Heads of State!)

My experience at Harvard naturally played an important role when we set out to design our educational model at Amani Institute. Here are 5 things we explicitly designed for, based on how Harvard does, and does not, do it.