What makes teaching at the Graduate Institute special is the incredible freedom granted to professors to design their own courses. In many institutions, professors are free to design their syllabus as they wish. However, this freedom is often limited to the content and method of pre-assigned courses. At the Institute, for optional courses, professors are free to create entirely new courses. This approach has clear benefits, not just for the professors, but also for the students who get the opportunity to engage with topics at the forefront of academic research and contemporary debates.

Research-led Teaching

The freedom to create new courses means that professors can introduce students to very specific subjects close to their research interests. For instance, in my case, I designed a research seminar on “Carbon Pricing in a Globalised World” that directly builds on my past and current research on the global governance of carbon pricing instruments and its impact on international climate change law. In the course, students examine, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the most recent research on carbon pricing instruments, such as carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes, asking key questions: To what extent are such instruments effective and fair? How do they interact with international climate change law? This enables them to develop their own informed opinion about the desirability of such instruments. The course culminates in students conducting their own research project on carbon pricing in a specific country, region, or sector. Throughout this process, they gain a firsthand understanding of what it means to do academic research. In particular, they often come to the realisation that research is a “craft” (a description I borrow from Liz Fisher), that it takes time and that arguments significantly evolve from a first draft to a final version.
 

Teaching-led Research
Beyond its positive impact on the quality of teaching, the ability to create new courses has positive effects on academic research, which also directly enriches the experience of students in the classroom. For instance, while preparing my outline for the course on “International Tax Law and Policy” which I teach as part of the International Law programme, I began to reflect on why international tax law was so rarely connected to the broader field of international law. After sharing my initial thoughts with students, I challenged them to think about the differences and similarities between international tax law and other areas in international law. The discussion with students was insightful and stimulating: it did not only confirm that the topic was worth exploring in an article, but it also enriched the debate within the classroom. This is the essence of what one could refer to as “teaching-led research” where students are the first audience of new research ideas. It makes courses at the Institute particularly attractive and inspiring as it places students at the heart of academic research.

This article was published in Globe #36, the Graduate Institute Review.