Geneva Graduate Institute

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (French: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as the Geneva Graduate Institute, is a postgraduate research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, development studies, and global governance.

Founded in 1927 by two senior League of Nations officials, the Geneva Graduate Institute was the world's first graduate school dedicated solely to the study of international affairs. With the Maison de la Paix acting as its primary campus, the Institute is located blocks from the United Nations Office at Geneva, the International Labour Organization, the World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Intellectual Property Organization and many other international organisations.

Today, the institute enrolls around a thousand graduate students from more than 100 countries, nearly 90% of whom are foreign-born. It is officially a bilingual English-French institution, although most classes are in English. A member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, it runs joint degree programmes with Colgate University, Smith College, Yale University and McGill University, and is Harvard Kennedy School's only partner institution to co-deliver double degrees.

The Institute maintains strong links with the League of Nations's successor, the United Nations, where many alumni have gone on to work. Its graduates include a former secretary-general, seven assistant secretaries-general, and three under-secretaries-general. Alumni have also served as director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Labour Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

History

Early years

The Graduate Institute of International Studies (French: Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales, HEI) was co-founded in 1927 by two scholar-diplomats working for the League of Nations Geneva secretariat: the Swiss-American William Rappard, director of the Mandates Section, and the Frenchman Paul Mantoux, director of the Political Section. Rappard, then rector of the University of Geneva, conceived the Graduate Institute as a way to draw on the deep pool of expertise in Geneva and to cement transatlantic ties. With the notion that it might be named the "Wilson Institute", after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Rappard saw it as a school for future American diplomats. The Institute was affiliated to the University of Geneva, though independent in its program of studies and personnel.

Initial funding was provided by the U.S.-based Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, which for its part conceived the Institute as playing the role of an "international economic observation post". The Swiss government and Canton of Geneva provided matching contributions. Funding from American philanthropic organizations, primarily the Rockefeller Foundation as part of its initiative to promote a scientific approach to international relations, continued until 1954.At the time, the Geneva Graduate Institute was "among the most important centres of scholarship" in international relations alongside other schools, mostly located in Europe, including the Institute of Higher International Studies in Paris, the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin, the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and the Walsh School of Foreign Service in the United States. In the 1920s, London School of Economics (LSE) director William Beveridge wrote that he regarded the Geneva Graduate Institute as a competing centre for the emerging study of international relations, arguing that LSE offered a superior setting for prolonged academic work in the field.

The Geneva Graduate Institute's original mandate was based on a close working relationship with both the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization. It was agreed that in exchange for training staff and delegates, the Institute would receive intellectual resources and diplomatic expertise (guest lecturers, etc.) from the aforementioned organisations. According to its statutes, the Geneva Graduate Institute was "an institution intended to provide students of all nations the means of undertaking and pursuing international studies, most notably of a historic, judicial, economic, political and social nature".

Academics

The Geneva Graduate Institute has nearly 1,100 students. Of these, about a third are PhD students, and two thirds are master's students. Fourteen percent come from Switzerland. The remainder come from more than 100 other countries. Around 63% are women. Admission to the Geneva Graduate Institute's study programs is highly competitive, with nearly 2,200 candidates applying for 430 available spots in 2026 -- a five to one ratio.

Departments

The Geneva Graduate Institute maintains five academic departments each headed by a faculty chair. They are the departments of international law; international relations & political science; international history & politics; international economics; and anthropology and sociology.

Study programmes

The Institute only offers master- and PhD-level programmes. The Geneva Graduate Institute offers seven master programmes, four executive master programmes, and five PhD programmes. They include masters in International and Development Studies; International Law; International Relations/Political Science; International History and Politics; International Economics; Anthropology and Sociology, Sustainable Finance and Development, and PhDs in International Law; International Relations/Political Science; International History and Politics; International Economics; Anthropology and Sociology.

Research

The Institute is home to twelve research centers. They are the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, the Centre for Digital Humanities and Multilateralism, the Centre for Finance and Development, the Center for Trade and Economic Integration, the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, the Hoffmann Centre for Global Sustainability, the Gender Centre, the Global Governance Centre, the NORRAG Global Education Centre, the Global Migration Centre, and the Global Health Centre. Additionally, the Small Arms Survey, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the Geneva Centre on Knowledge Governance, a joint initiative with American University, are housed at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The Institute is also home to the Geneva International Sanctions Network, an academic network focused on the effectiveness of international sanctions headed by professor Thomas J. Biersteker.

In addition, the Geneva Graduate Institute runs three specialized schools jointly with the University of Geneva. They are the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies and the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement.

Rankings

As a small institution offering exclusively graduate programmes, the Geneva Graduate Institute does not participate in university rankings of comprehensive universities. However, It has been ranked by a handful of specialized rankings.

Campus

The Campus de la paix is a network of buildings extending from Place des Nations (the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva) to the shores of Lake Geneva, spanning two public parks: Parc Barton and Parc Moynier.

Maison de la paix

The Graduate Institute's main campus is the Maison de la paix (lit. "House of Peace"), which opened in 2013. The Maison de la Paix is a 38,000 meter-square glass building distributed into six connected sections. It contains the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Library, which holds 350,000 books about social sciences, journals and annual publications, making it one of Europe's richest libraries in the fields of development and international relations. It is named after two Institute alumni, Ambassador Shelby Cullom Davis and his wife Kathryn Davis, following the Davis' $10 million donation to the Institute.

In addition to serving as the institute's main campus, the Maison de la paix also houses policy centres and advocacy groups with close ties to the Institute such as the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, Interpeace, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Historic villas

Another section of the campus are two historic villas situated by Lake Geneva, Villa Barton and Villa Moynier. Villa Barton served as the institute's main campus from 1937 to 2007. It now mostly houses administrative staff. Adjacent to Villa Barton, the World Trade Organization's headquarters, known as the Centre William Rappard, housed the Geneva Graduate Institute's library during that period.

Villa Moynier, since 2009, houses the Institute-based Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement. The building holds a symbolic significance as it was originally owned by Gustave Moynier, co-founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and subsequently used by the League of Nations and as the headquarters of the ICRC between 1933 and 1946.

At the time of the Geneva Graduate Institute's founding in the early 20th century, the Institute was briefly housed in an hôtel particulier, located at Promenade du Pin 5, that now houses Geneva's Library of Art and Archeology (fr).

Student housing

The Geneva Graduate Institute owns and operates two halls of residence in Geneva. The Edgar and Danièle de Picciotto Student Residence neighbors the main campus, Maison de la paix. It was completed in 2012 and provides 135 apartments for students and visiting professors. The Grand Morillon Student Residence opened to students in 2021 and accommodates 678 residents. It was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

Publications

Journal of International Dispute Settlement was established by the Geneva Graduate Institute and the University of Geneva in 2010, the JIDS is dedicated to international law with commercial, economic and financial implications. It is published by Oxford University Press.

International Development Policy is a peer-reviewed e-journal edited by the Geneva Graduate Institute that promotes research and policy debates on global development.

Relations internationales publishes research on international relations history ranging from the end of the 19th century to recent history. It is a co-publication of the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and the Geneva Graduate Institute that is published by Presses universitaires de France.

International relations

Partnerships

The Graduate Institute has exchange partnerships with the following institutions internationally:

Networks

The Graduate Institute is an active member of the following associations and academic networks: Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, European University Association, Europaeum, European Consortium for Political Research, European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, and Swiss University Conference.

Social engagement

Academic awards

The Paul Guggenheim Prize in International Law was created in 1981 and is awarded on a biannual basis to honor the first monograph of young practitioners of international law. The Edgar de Picciotto International Prize is awarded every two years and worth 100,000 Swiss Francs. It rewards an internationally renowned academic whose research has contributed to enhancing the understanding of global challenges and whose work has influenced policy-makers.

Public lectures

The Geneva Graduate Institute organizes public lecture events. Recent guest speakers have included U.N. Secretary-Generals Antonio Guterres and Ban Ki-moon, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the Dalai Lama, former World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy, Italian prime minister Mario Monti, British prime minister Gordon Brown, Liberian president Johnson Sirleaf, journalist and Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, Microsoft president Brad Smith, economists Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, and Amartya Sen, historian Niall Ferguson, actress Angelina Jolie, and philosopher Michael Sandel.

Administration

Leadership

The founding directors of the Graduate Institute of International Studies were Paul Mantoux (1927-1951) and William Rappard (1928-1955). The Institute was then headed by Jacques Freymond (1955-1978), Christian Dominicé (1978-1984), Lucius Caflisch (1984-1990), Alexandre Swoboda (1990-1998), Peter Tschopp (de) (1998-2002), Jean-Michel Jacquet (2002-2004) and Philippe Burrin (2004-2020). Its current director is Marie-Laure Salles.

Legal status

The Graduate Institute is a hybrid, public and private institution. It is constituted as a Swiss private law foundation, namely the Fondation pour les hautes études internationales et du développement, that fulfills a public purpose. The political responsibility for the Graduate Institute is shared between the Swiss Confederation and the canton of Geneva. The arrangement is unusual in Switzerland, where the cantons usually run public universities, with the exception of the federally-run ETH Zurich and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Foundation Board

The Foundation Board is the administrative body of the Institute. It assembles academics, politicians, people of public life and practitioners. Its members have included Carlos Lopes (ex-U.N. under secretary general), Julia Marton-Lefèvre (former director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature) and Jacques Marcovitch.

Controversies

Remuneration of teaching and research assistants

Since 2022, some of the 60 or so PhD and master students and candidates employed by the Geneva Graduate Institute as teaching assistants and research assistants have repeatedly accused the school of underpaying them and circumventing Swiss labor laws. In September 2022, the school's administration aligned its teaching assistant and research assistant contracts with Geneva's hourly minimum wage laws by reducing the percentage of the work contract while maintaining the same workload. The students claim they live in "precarious" conditions and that their remuneration is “insufficient for a dignified life”. Some claim being unable to afford medicines and relying on food banks. Geneva is among the world's most expensive cities. The Geneva-based union Syndicat interprofessionnel de travailleuses et travailleurs (fr) (SIT) helped the students unsuccessfully petition the Grand Council of Geneva on the matter. It voted, in 2024, against referring the petition to the Council of State of Geneva and tabled it. In 2026, the Council of State of Geneva responded to a written question on the matter from a deputy; it defended the Institute's autonomy as a private-law foundation and declined to intervene.

SIT has said the part-time 2022 contracts "do not in any way resolve the precariousness of assistants" and sought the hourly payment of work the students devote to writing their thesis. Marie-Laure Salles, the school's director, has said such labor "does not constitute a professional activity but rather personal training work which belongs exclusively to the doctoral student". Some students have criticized her handling of the situation, particularly in 2022 for allegedly interrupting negotiations over concerns that SIT's involvement "breached trust in the discussions".

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