The world is a complex place and confronts us with massive and urgent problems which cannot be solved with ready-made solutions. On the contrary, coordinated and mature responses demand rigorous and independent knowledge. I am firmly convinced that our Institute is ideally placed to prepare us to face tomorrow’s challenges.
Our experience with the study of international relations goes back to the 1920s (the HEI was the oldest European academic institution in its field) and to the 1960s for development studies (the IUED was a pioneer when the Third World began to emerge). As the challenges confronting us become increasingly global and the North-South divide narrows, we have chosen to inject new energy into this tradition through an approach to global problems that integrates international relations and development studies.
We are a cosmopolitan community (75% of our students are from abroad), with an exceptional range of expertise on global affairs which allows us to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to the relationship between local and regional developments and the needs of global governance.
We are based in Switzerland – at a distance from the traditional centres of power – in Geneva, a focal point of multilateral governance. This access to the wealth of international actors on our doorstep provides us with a unique opportunity to enrich our research, enhance our teaching, strengthen our expertise, offer our students valuable professional experiences, and prepare them for international careers.
An institution of advanced research and teaching such as ours can only exist through a commitment to excellence, we demand no less. To this we add a commitment to independence, responsibility and diversity; we seek to remain innovative. It is our firm belief that through this unique combination we can prepare international actors to respond to the challenges of tomorrow’s world.
Philippe Burrin, Director
