The 2025 Advancing Development Goals International Contest for Graduate Students aims to present innovative and pragmatic solutions to address the challenges of migration
Eager to stimulate reflection and innovation on development issues from diverse disciplinary and contextual perspectives and with the generous support of Ambassador Jenö Staehelin, the Graduate Institute launched the Advancing Development Goals Contest, an international competition for Master students, in 2014.
The idea is to gather contributions that are both theoretically grounded and offer pragmatic solutions to a relevant international development problem stemming from an interdisciplinary collaboration between three to five enrolled master students from anywhere in the world.
The world is currently experiencing one of the largest waves of migration in history. In 2020, over 280 million individuals (or 3.6% of the world’s population) lived outside their country of birth. Meanwhile, migration occurs within a country's borders.
The number of people forcibly displaced by conflict, persecution, and climate-related disasters has increased over the past decades, reaching 122.6 million in 2024. Among them, 43.7 million are formally recognised as refugees. The vast majority of refugees, around 71%, is hosted by low- and middle-income countries that often face significant challenges in meeting the needs of their own populations. Just as voluntary migration occurs within a country's borders, so does forced displacement, referred to as internal displacement. In 2024, the 72.1 million internally displaced people made up more than half of all forcibly displaced people globally.
Migration is an integral part of human history, shaping economies, cultures, and societies across the globe. However, migration also presents complex challenges. In addition to affecting the migrants themselves, it also affects the host countries that receive them and the sending countries they leave behind. Thus, the challenges of migration require innovative solutions that turn these challenges into opportunities.
Established in 1927, Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) is a for-profit private higher education institution located in the urban setting of the large town of Geneva (population range of 50,000-249,999 inhabitants). Officially accredited and/or recognized by the Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, Schweiz (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Switzerland), Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) is a very small (uniRank enrollment range: 500-999 students) coeducational higher education institution. Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) offers courses and programs leading to officially recognized higher education degrees such as bachelor degrees in several areas of study. See the uniRank degree levels and areas of study matrix below for further details. International applicants are eligible to apply for enrollment.