Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (French: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement, abbreviated IHEID or the Graduate Institute Geneva) is a postgraduate university located in Geneva, Switzerland. In academic and professional circles, the Graduate Institute is considered one of Europe’s most prestigious institutions. The Institute’s alumni and current/former faculty include ambassadors, foreign ministers, heads of state, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, seven Nobel prize recipients, and one Pulitzer Prize winner. It specializes in the fields of political science, international relations, international law, international economics, international history, anthropologyand development studies.

The school has a diverse student body and cosmopolitan character due to its 80 percent intake of international students, of over 100 nationalities. It is located blocks from the United Nations headquarters in Europe, theWorld Trade Organization, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Health Organization.

It is a full member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, a group of the world’s top schools in international affairs, and accredited by the Swiss government as an independent academic institution.

The Graduate Institute is continental Europe’s oldest school of international relations (Aberystwyth University inWales was founded in 1919) and was the first university dedicated solely to the study of international affairs. It offered one of the first doctoral programs in international relations in the world. In 2008, the Graduate Institute of International Studies absorbed the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, a smaller post-graduate institution also based in Geneva. The merger resulted in the current Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

In 2013, the school inaugurated its new campus, the Maison de la paix.