The UNU-MERIT Graduate School offers high-quality education and training to Master’s students, PhD candidates and professionals. The aim of the UNU-MERIT Graduate School is to achieve excellence in education. Its ambition is to be a leading graduate school offering interdisciplinary degrees and non-degree programmes within a social science approach. The focus of the educational programmes is on societal policies and innovation for achieving inclusive and sustainable development. Our programmes are built on academic rigour and professional expertise, and graduates score high on employability. Education and research outreach are closely related. Through research, we create knowledge for development. This knowledge flows back into our educational programmes. Using a comprehensive innovation for sustainable development lens, the objective of the degree programmes is to provide future researchers and policy leaders with strong analytical skills to contribute to evidence-based public policies for sustainable, inclusive and equitable societies. The non-degree programmes contribute to our mission of stimulating lifelong learning which enables professionals to update their knowledge or learn new skills.
Overall, the GS aims to achieve the following goals in the coming years:
- Strengthen the link between research and education;
- Develop a growth path for the GS regarding the ideal number of programmes and students;
- Assess the staff teaching capacity of the institute and formulate HR plan for education;
- Assess administrative staff capacity of the educational programs;
- Establish and define the relationship with SBE’s Education Institute and GSX;
- Build a strong alumni network for our graduates and actively involve them in research, teaching and other projects.
The UNU-MERIT Graduate School offers Master of Science and PhD programmes, as well as Capacity Development programmes for professionals and practitioners, in line with the institute’s mission and mandate. UNU-MERIT offers a dual-diploma MSc in Public Policy and Human Development, in partnership with Maastricht University. Additionally, the institute supports Maastricht University in delivering an MSc in Economics and Strategy in Emerging Markets.