Welcome
The University of Geneva is Switzerland’s second-largest university. It is a member of the League of European Research Universities, which includes academic institutions such as Amsterdam, Cambridge, Heidelberg, Helsinki and Milan. It is among the best generalist universities in continental Europe according to international rankings (Newsweek, Times Higher Education, Shanghai University, etc.). In 2014, it was ranked by Times Higher Education as the 2nd most international university in the world.
Geneva School of Social Sciences
The Geneva School of Social Sciences (G3S) was created on 1 January 2014 through the merging and repositioning of several components of the old Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences. The G3S brings together departments and institutes in the following fields: Sociology, Political Science, Geography, Political Economy, Social and Economic History, Gender Studies, Communication, Socio-Economics, Territorial Development, Demographics, International Relations, Political Institutions and Citizenship, etc.
The Geneva School of Social Sciences exists to create a center of learning, research, exchange, and publication able to meet the challenges posed by the great social questions of today: economic and cultural globalization, changing political identities, individual and collective vulnerabilities, economic, social, and territorial inequalities, etc. The G3S researchers possess the necessary expertise to perform the multi-disciplinary analyses required to address these sorts of problems. But social issues like these also require commitments from the students and Geneva, as well as the involvement of the most diversified possible variety of academic, social, and political networks. This is because the G3S promotes social involvement and political action towards more sustainable and equitable development, towards the reduction of social inequalities, specifically pertaining to gender, and towards institutions and political systems that are more participatory and more respectful of justice and of differences.
English-speaking students
The courses and programs offered by the Geneva School of Social Sciences at the Bachelor and Master levels are mostly taught in French. A few courses are taught in English, and many academic projects require mastery of English. It should be noted that many G3S students do not speak native French.