Founded throught the merger between IUG and IGA on 1 september 2017,  IUGA inherits the two institution's long experience in international cooperation.

THE IUG

With the IUG as a founding member of AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) in 1987, exchanging experiences via teaching and research has always been at the heart of the institute's development. More recently, its university cooperation programs have diversified and  highlighed other areas of interest such as the Mediterranean region (through the Tempus DEVETER Master's degree with six partner universities in Lebanon, Algeria and Syria) or the Alpine Arc region (via the Alpine Space Programme - Capacities Project: Competitiveness Actions and Policies for Alpine Cities).

THE IGA

The international partnerships of the Institute of Alpine Geography have long been built on relationships that are not only related to research but also to teaching, such as its historical partnerships in Niger, Sweden and Lebanon. These relationships continue today and enable students, doctoral students and professor-researchers to travel to and from these destinations.

IUGA today

The Institute currently maintains around 100 bilateral partnerships for student and staff exchanges with European universities (as part of the Erasmus programme) and universities abroad, such as institutions in Canada and Brazil (e.g. ORA, CREPUQ, France-Brazil programs). The flow of exchange students represents about 5% of the total. In addition, several IUGA graduate programs are clearly internationally oriented, such as the Master's degrees in  " International Development Studies : Sustainability, Participation, Innovation", and "Urbanism, Habitat and International Cooperation". The "Urban Design"  Master's degree was developed in partnership with the Swiss higher education institutions Hepia and UNIL.

Finally, the English-language Erasmus Mundus Urbano Master's degree in "International Cooperation and Urban Development" has been offered since 2007 in partnership with TU Darmstadt, Roma 2 and UIC Barcelona. Targeting post-master students or young professionals, the program aims to train planning experts who specialize in international cooperation.