MASTER IN INTERNATIONAL AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Global challenges call for a new generation of professionals, working on creative solutions for a more sustainable, equitable and peaceful world. In this context, we believe that the best preparation is, on the one hand, a deep understanding of common systemic interdependencies enriched with thematic specialisations, and on the other, the fostering of adequate skills such as resilience, agility, innovative and critical thinking.

To that end, our Master in International and Development Studies ('MINT') proposes a ground-breaking combination of a solid common core with the possibility to specialise in one of seven areas. The MINT mixes the advantages of being a rigorous academic programme with a strong accent on applied research, practice and skills, and is ideally located at the heart of International Geneva.

A programme for all those wanting to work in:

  • International cooperation, in intergovernmental, non-governmental organisations, or national administrations.

  • Private sector, notably multinational companies, the finance sector, law firms, consulting and public relations agencies.

  • Research on global issues, such as in think tanks, international foundations, universities, in the media, or as a consultant.

Our programme offers the possibility of becoming a generalist of a specific kind, with an expertise in international and development studies, a background in several disciplines and a groundbreaking experience in applied research.

Davide Rodogno, Head, MINT programme

 

Our Applied Research Project with the Aladdin Project was an extraordinary experience that brought together brilliant students and professors who inspired us greatly. Being a part of it was indeed an honour, and we gained valuable insights not only from an academic standpoint but also on a personal level. The program was truly enriching both with the content discussed both within and outside the lecture halls, and the vast backgrounds and experiences of the students who attended greatly widened our scope of view of world affairs.

SOL & RYAN / Interdisciplinary master students

 

Sol Ryan

COMPULSORY COURSE

Following an interdisciplinary approach, our core course offers a creative space to reflect on global challenges  by drawing on the expertise of the Institute and of International Geneva.

 

RESEARCH METHODS ELECTIVES

Part of the programme's foundations, they offer students different ways of analysing a reality, and introduce them to new ways of thinking. They are eclectic, and encompass qualitative, quantitative, hybrid and legal / philosophical methods.

 

SPECIALISATIONS

They enable students to dive into one of the following seven areas:

  • Conflict, Peace and Security;
  • Environment and Sustainability;
  • Gender, Race and Diversity; 
  • Human Rights and Humanitarianism;
  • Mobilities, Migrations and Boundaries;
  • Sustainable Trade and Finance;
  • Global Health.

Students can choose the extent to which they specialise. However, because today's global issues are intertwined and can't be confined to a specific field, students will be encouraged to learn beyond a specialisation and explore their interlinkages.

 

TRANSVERSAL THEMES ELECTIVES

Thematic courses on issues transcending the specialisations. These themes are:

  • Sustainability;
  • Democracy and Inequality;
  • Fairness and Justice;
  • Digital & Emerging Technologies;
  • Global Governance;
  • Education.

 

SKILLS WORKSHOPS

They provide students with tools and practical skills needed for their ARPs and for their professional lives.

 

APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECTS (ARPs) & MASTER THESIS

The Applied Research Project and the Master Thesis allow for the synthetic and practical mobilisation of knowledge, methods, tools and skills acquired in the programme.

 

INTERNSHIPS (optional)

They provide students the opportunity to connect to the fertile International Geneva microcosm, to gain professional experience and to put their knowledge into practice.

 

The programme is based on solid common foundations, to ensure students acquire the rigorous analytical framework and methodological bases they will need throughout the programme and in their professional lives.

 

1 | Compulsory course on Global Issues & Perspectives
 

To be followed by all MINT Students during their first semester. 

Why do we think students need this course?

  • MINT students are coming from very diverse countries and disciplines. They need to come together around a common understanding of global affairs.

  • Global issues are constantly evolving, thereby requiring a constantly refreshed analysis.

This course sets up the analytical foundations of the programme. All MINT students are together to familiarise themselves with the programme approach, vocabulary, and the global issues it addresses.

 

2 | Compulsory course on Statistical Literacy
 

Taken by all MINT Students during their first semester. 

Why is this course organised?

  • In today’s world, it is crucial to know how to decipher, interpret and use with a critical eye, the quantitative information we receive on a daily basis.

  • Statistical literacy (the ability to understand statistics) is one of the foundations for effective decision-making today.

This course establishes one of the methodological basis of the programme. As it is a beginner-level course, students with demonstrated knowledge of statistics can request a waiver (to be replaced by another course).

 

3 | Research Electives
 

Students must validate two Research Electives, during their MINT first year. Students can choose amongst a list.

Categories are: quantitative methods, qualitative methods, hybrid methods and legal & philosophical methods (new this year!).

Why Research Electives are part of the curriculum?

  • They introduce students to new ways of thinking – they are methodological courses taught by experts / professors from different disciplines. 

  • Students need to acquire innovative perspectives on international affairs, and a critical-thinking mindset. 

They aim at providing students with solid, interdisciplinary methodological foundations. 
 

OVERVIEW
 

MINT students are trained in critical thinking and rigorous analysis on the key issues facing our world today, bringing together their unique skills in a collective effort to create the solutions our world most needs. A key part of their training involves a focus on the practice of ethical leadership, including through meaningful engagement with leading policy-makers, practitioners and thought leaders, in Geneva and beyond.

The Applied Research Projects (ARPs) are a foundational component of the MINT. ARPs involve small student groups coming together to conduct policy-relevant research with partner organisations on issues relating to international relations and development.

Through ARPs, students learn and apply analytical and practical skills to policy-relevant issues. Students work under the supervision of a faculty team.

Students are expected to:

  • elaborate project Terms of Reference and frame appropriate research questions;

  • conduct in-depth literature reviews and design relevant methodologies;

  • undertake original research;

  • analyse primary data;

  • write analytic preliminary and final reports; 

  • present final research findings.

Teamwork, collaboration, professionalism, effective communication, and problem solving are crucial skills that the ARP process aims to teach students.

 

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
 

Organisations working on issues of global concern are invited to submit applications to commission ARPs.

Partner organisations are expected to provide guidance and support to students to generate research that is of policy and practical relevance. The selection process is competitive. It is based on a proposal that describes the desired project, including research objectives, questions and methodologies to be used.

Successful applicants demonstrate a commitment to supporting students across the project period, including through the provision of technical expertise, supporting students’ professional learning, and helping students connect with other leading experts in the relevant field of practice.

Partner organisations are expected to:

  • provide overall framing of the research project;

  • participate in approximately 4 meetings with students across the project period;

  • attend the final presentation; 

  • provide feedback on and validate students’ deliverables - including the Terms of Reference, Literature Review and Methodology, and the Preliminary and Final Reports.  

Each year, students begin their ARPs in mid-October and complete their projects in June. Applications for ARP Partnerships for the 2024 - 2025 cohort will open in August 2024.

For more information, please contact the Head of Applied Research Projects and Practice.

VIDEOS

Students Present Capstone Projects at Palais des Nations
The Merck access to health project connects students with alumni.

Applied Research Projects Catalogue

The MINT offers a common core and seven specialisations. Each of them follows an interdisciplinary approach, informed by the rich expertise of the Institute in five disciplines: anthropology and sociology, international economics, international history and politics, international law, and international relations and political science. Specialisations are not self-standing silos: they are interconnected curricula providing to students the possibility to tailor to a certain extent. their individual paths.

Most of today's global issues are broader than a specific domain, and we also encourage students to explore their interlinkages through courses dedicated to wider transversal themes (Sustainability, Democracy & Inequality, Fairness & Justice, Digital & Emerging Technologies, Global Governance, and Education).
 

1 | CONFLICT, PEACE AND SECURITY
 

This specialisation focuses on the issues of conflict, peace, and security and the interactions among them. It examines the drivers and manifestations of conflict, the nature and conditions of peace, and the determinants of security. Within an interdisciplinary approach, we survey the various historical and contemporary manifestations of these processes. 


Some courses taught in 2023 – 24:

  • Conflict Resolution and Peace Mediation in Times of Radical Uncertainty

  • Peacebuilding and Peace Making in a Violent World

  • Predicting Crisis

  • Technology, Power, Global Governance

  • The Evolution of Global Security

  • The Politics and Practice of International Conflict Resolution

Head: Prof. Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamedou
 

2 | ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
 

This specialisation focuses on global environmental challenges, which lie at the heart of the search for a sustainable human future on Earth. It examines the impacts of contemporary political economies locally and at the planetary scale. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of the economics and politics of decisions about the environment, from the global scale (e.g. climate change or global ecology) to the local (e.g. agrarian change, biodiversity conservation, urbanisation or mining). 

Some courses taught in 2023 – 24:

  • International Environmental Law

  • Environmental Economics & Sustainability

  • Trade and Development

  • Climate Science and Policy

  • Political Economy and Geopolitics of International Energy

  • History and Politics of Global Environment Governance

Head: Prof. James Hollway
 

3 | GENDER, RACE AND DIVERSITY
 

This specialisation addresses how power relations based on gender, race, and other forms of difference structure international affairs. The goal is to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and tools to help redress intersecting inequalities and oppressions globally. Students gain interdisciplinary training that addresses a broad range of topics, including histories of colonialism and decoloniality; anthropologies and sociologies of (anti)racism, sexuality and gender; the economics of gender and development; and the gendered and racialised politics of international governance and international law.

Some courses from 2023 – 24:

  • Sociology of Gender

  • Public Policy, Economic Development and Gender

  • Gender and Bodies in Global Health

  • Feminist Political Economy

  • Gender, Sexuality and Decolonization in the Global South

  • The History of Inequality

Head: Prof. Elisabeth Prügl
 

4 | GLOBAL HEALTH
 

This specialisation focuses on power, politics and governance in global health. Students will learn how global health issues affect, and are affected by, geopolitics through global institutions and transnational actors, political economy, and epistemological and regulatory regimes. Students will also learn how to work across professional disciplines, how to obtain meaningful input from different stakeholders including affected communities, and how to translate knowledge into policy.

Some of the 2023 - 24 courses:

  • Health technology innovation and access: politics and policies

  • Global Governance and Health: Problems and Politics

  • Global Health Law

  • Global Health: History, Politics, Controversies

  • Global History of Reproductive Politics

  • Migration and Health from an International Perspective

Head: Prof. Gian-Luca Burci

 

5 | HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIANISM
 

'This specialisation will introduce students to these inter-related ethical / legal topics, and their changing relationship. The overall aim of the specialisation is to equip students with a mix of theoretical insights and practical skills that are essential for reflection and effective participation in these two fields of activity.

Some courses taught in 2023 - 24:

  • Humanitarian Adventures: Actors, Institutions and Contemporary Issues

  • Humanitarians and Human Trafficking

  • Human Rights and Development

  • Self-determination and Minority Rights: International Law and Politics

  • Seminar on Human Rights and Political Justice

  • War Law

Head: Prof. Andrew Clapham

 

6 | MOBILITIES, MIGRATIONS AND BOUNDARIES
 

This specialisation aims to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of mobility, its centrality in our societies, the governance of mobility, and its centrality for modern-day governance.

Some courses taught in 2023 - 24:

  • Forced Migration and International Law

  • Managing and Solving Refugee Problems

  • Critical Refugee Studies

  • Mobility Conflicts, Border Forensics

  • Urbanization and its Discontents

  • Law without the State

Head: Prof. Alessandro Monsutti
 

7 | SUSTAINABLE TRADE AND FINANCE
 

This specialisation focuses on the challenges and opportunities of financial deepening and international economic integration, with a spotlight on sustainability and inclusiveness. 

Some courses from 2023 - 24:

  • Trade and Development

  • Development Finance for the SDGs – Opportunities and Challenges

  • Dynamics of Global Economic Governance

  • Political Economy and Geopolitics of International Energy

  • International Trade Law

  • Social Finance for Sustainable Development

Head: Prof. Ugo Panizza
 

The full catalogue of courses is available electronically by clicking here.

The thesis is a piece of independent writing carried out by students under faculty supervision.

Students present an original research question addressing an issue relevant to international affairs and/or international development. Students may choose a supervisor among any of the Geneva Graduate Institute’s faculty members, affiliated to their specialisation or to other specialisations.

All complete Master theses are referenced in the online Institutional Repository.

Diplomacy: how is it taught in our largest Master?


All of the seven dedicated thematic specialisations of our recently-revamped Master in International and Development Studies (MINT) delve into generic and specific aspect of the new layered and multiple diplomacies. Besides, one of the compulsory courses in the common core part of the programme, “Global Issues and Perspectives”, devotes fifty per cent of its sessions on discussions that directly deal with questions and aspects of diplomacy and multilateralism.

Learn more about Diplomacy at the Geneva Graduate Institute

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM


A podcast series produced by our students to explore further specific topics discussed in class.

 

APPLYING TO THE MINT

 

In the application we ask candidates to indicate their specialisation preferences. We do so to try and have a balanced number of students per specialisation. However, candidates are applying to the MINT in its entirety, and as such, their choices will have no bearing on their admission: we evaluate applications based on their overall strength (see our admission criteria here).

Specialisations are attributed according to a number of criteria (including the candidate's preferences, academic standing in relation to other admitted students, the number of seats left in each specialisation). Candidates will receive their specialisation assignment together with their admission offer. 

If we are not able to place some candidates in their selected specialisations, we will contact them before the decision notification deadline to discuss available options.

Note that the programme allows students to explore topics from different specialisations, through the Applied Research Projects, elective courses, and Master thesis. Students will be able to use these programme components to investigate topics in any specialisation, beyond the one assigned. 
 

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