The Duke Global Policy Program takes place in Geneva, Switzerland each summer for a dynamic course week. Participants have the option of selecting a two-credit or a zero-credit pathway.
Academic Overview
Students will learn how international and non-governmental organizations in Geneva are addressing today’s most pressing global challenges, and have the option of following three tracks:
- Global Health Track
- Humanitarian Action: Crises, Refugees, and Human Rights Track
- International Trade Policy Track
The week includes meetings with approximately 20 practitioners, site visits to Geneva-based IGOs and NGOs, networking events, professional coaching, group case simulations, and a culminating policy memo assignment. It’s a rigorous week that shapes students’ professional and personal ambitions.
Key Questions
The intensive course week will address critical questions like:
- How can globalization be a catalyst for development and improved living standards?
- Is multilateral cooperation irreparably broken?
- Could a new, fairer form of global health and humanitarian action be forged in the post-pandemic era?
- How can trade policy be used to address conflicts between countries over the use of industrial policy and subsidies?
Track-specific Exploration
Students will meet with leading global health, international trade, and humanitarian practitioners from key multilateral agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, World Trade Organization (WTO) International Organization for Migration, World Health Organization (WHO), International Trade Center(ITC) the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNHC.
- Students will go on site visits related to their track to see the inner workings of these agencies.
- Speakers will include scholars and practitioners from high burden nations.
- Debates, readings, case studies, and a culminating policy memo assignment: all planned activities will help to put theory into action.
Valuable coursework
The humanitarian coursework with Professor Amy Hepburn was phenomenal. I have never had a class that integrates reality within the classroom so seamlessly and the conversation amongst our participants was so rich, it was almost upsetting when we had to wind down for the day. - Kayla King, The Pennsylvania State University
About Course Credit
Completion of all course assignments—including work prior to, during, and after the intensive course week in Geneva—will enable a participant to earn 2.0 credits through the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy.
- Expect to engage with your track colleagues and professor several weeks before the intensive course week.
- All policy memo submissions must be fully completed by early August (end of the Summer II semester) to be eligible for course credit.
- Confirm that your home institutions will accept the 2.0 academic credits awarded in the course.
- After you have fulfilled all course requirements, you may request an official Duke transcript.
- You are responsible for ensuring credit transfer to your home institution.
- Some universities offer students the option of receiving academic credit or professional development (which may provide some funding). Please check with your academic programs and career offices.
Faculty
Gavin Yamey (Global Health Track) is Hymowitz Family Professor of the Practice in Global Health at the Sanford School of Public Policy and the Duke Global Health Institute and also serves as Director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, all at Duke University.
Amy Hepburn (Humanitarian Action Track) is a policy professional who has researched, published, and programmed extensively on issues affecting children in complex humanitarian emergencies, including armed conflict and HIV/AIDS in the Balkans, Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Republic of Georgia.
Cory Krupp (International Trade Policy Track) is an expert on trade policy and a professor of the practice of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. She is also the Director of Graduate Studies for the Master of International Development Policy program at Sanford.
An Experience of a Lifetime
Alumni of the Duke Sanford Global Policy in Geneva Program often reflect on the transformative impact of their week in Geneva, frequently sharing sentiments like, "It completely changed my perspective."