From Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, to diplomats, United Nations Secretary-Generals, presidents, entrepreneurs, field workers, professors, researchers and more, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies has been giving its students the foundational means to positively impact the world since 1927.
Established following World War I and with a desire to increase diplomacy worldwide, the Institut de hautes études internationales (HEI) had a vision to equip a new generation of students with training and expertise necessary to tackle international issues. HEI, or the Graduate Institute of International Studies, would be the first institution of its kind, entirely dedicated to the study of international affairs.
In 2008, HEI merged with the Institut universitaire d’études du développement (IUED), which was formed in 1961 to tackle questions of decolonisation. Formerly known as the Geneva African Institute, IUED examined development issues through an interdisciplinary lens, applying anthropology, ecology, development economics and political sociology to academics, while linking theory with practice.
Now, with the integration of both international and development studies under one roof, the Geneva Graduate Institute is a pioneer in the exploration of global issues, opening creative spaces for diverse communities and fostering the understanding and engagement essential for a peaceful, equitable and sustainable world.
Since its beginnings in 1927 until now, the Institute has grown an international network of over 20,000 alumnae and alumni who are using the tools they learned during their studies to find solutions to some of the world’s most complex issues, rewriting the future for not only their own generation, but for those to come. As in the words of author Margaret Atwood, “In the end, we all become stories”.
