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Pierre Willa is the Director of the International Affairs Office of the University of Geneva. As a Swiss diplomat with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2001-2012, Dr. Willa held posts in New York, with the UN mission, and in Bern, where he was charged with Russia and the Central Asia region. On sabbatical from the FDFA, he was named Director of UNIGE’s International Affairs in 2007 and has contributed to the significant development of the internationalization of the University of Geneva, its programs, and its institutional and research partnerships. Several new programs, including the Geneva Summer Schools, have reinforced UNIGE’s impact while supporting excellence in research and teaching.
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Celebrating its 450th anniversary in 2009, the University of Geneva has grown from a Theological Seminary founded by Jean Calvin to one of the world’s most international institutions of higher Education (ranking Times of higher education). From its world-class research to the excellence of its education, UNIGE is praised for its strong ties with other leading Global Universities, International Organization (eg. WHI, the ITU, the ICRCs, etc) as well as world-class leading centers of research such as the CERN.
From Geneva the pursuit of excellence in research, teaching and competency building increasingly equates with the capacity to scope, analyze and integrate the Socio-political, economic and natural planetary dynamics of change. These are the new boundaries of the 21st century University and not its location. Consequently, the highest priority is given to networks of partners that help build and curate systems of knowledge as a result of centuries of fact finding, empirical analysis and knowledge exchange.
To better adapt to our changing global environment and respond to the shifting needs of our digital era, the University of Geneva has embarked on an ambitious strategy of increasing its global impact through learning, research, global outreach and Service. This Global strategy requires a strong commitment to the pursuit of network of expertise with partner institutions of higher education, actors of Global governance and the public sector while developing new bridges and partnerships with the private sector to foster innovation in research and training.
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