The Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) was founded in 2008 as the successor institution of the former Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN).

While the former GIAN was mostly active in Geneva due to the mandatory research collaboration with international organisations, the SNIS was set up by joint decision by the Canton of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation (State Secretariat of Research and Education) with the mandate to extend its activities and funding activities to academic institutions and researchers all over Switzerland.

The SNIS has been set up according to a contract concluded between the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, which are the founding institutions. Its legal statute is a “société simple”.

Partner institutions involved in the activities and decision-making process are:

– Center for Comparative and International Studies, Zürich
– World Trade Institute, Bern
– Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel
– School of Management, Economics, Law, Social Sciences and International Affairs, St. Gallen

The SNIS has succeeded in its mission to promote international studies in Switzerland. The past calls for proposals showed a fairly balanced breakdown of pre-proposals received from a wide range of academic institutions in Switzerland. In 2016, 40% project proposals emanated from German speaking cantons, followed by Geneva with 29%, 27.5% of other French speaking cantons and finally Ticino with a rate of 3.5%.