27 Jan 2015


Book your place on the 13th WTI Summer Academy!

Applications are now being accepted for the 13th annual Summer Academy on ‘New Frontiers in Trade and Investment Governance’, to be held at the World Trade Institute from 6 July to 7 August 2015.

The WTI Summer Academy has long provided accessible yet specialised knowledge on many of the most salient and cutting-edge issues in contemporary economic governance.

It is designed for professionals from the public and private sectors, academia, specialised actors from various civil society organisations, as well as graduate students with a shared interest in the forces shaping trade and investment governance.

The Academy’s flexible format allows participants to sign up for individual weeks or any combination of the full five-week programme - depending on their interests and availability.

Students attending all five weeks of the Academy and satisfactorily passing an exam that is assessed after its completion can earn 10 ECTS credits from their home country academic institutions.

Young and international

The WTI Summer Academy is truly international in character. Our last edition was attended by 68 participants from  33 countries, with more than half of all participants aged between 20 and 29.

Participant feedback on the Academy typically emphasises the unique opportunity it offers to rub shoulders in Bern’s beautiful and relaxed summer atmosphere with some of the world’s leading trade academics and professionals, and the fact that it is tailored to participants with highly variable levels of prior exposure to - and experience of - the issues addressed. In the word of one participant: “No amount of money can buy what I have gained!”.

As the multilateral trade community celebrates the 20th anniversary  of the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2015, the WTI’s 13th Summer Academy offers a unique vantage point to take stock of – and gain critical insights on - recent developments in trade and investment law and policy, and frontier challenges in economic governance.

As Pierre Sauvé, the WTI’s Director of External Programmes and Academic Partnerships and a faculty member in the course on New Frontiers in Services Trade sums up: “The Summer Academy will appeal to anyone seeking a synthetic update of where we’ve been, where we stand and where we’re heading  in trade and investment diplomacy.” 

The full Academy line-up can be found here.