International Institute of Social Studies - History

History

ISS was founded in 1952 by the Dutch government to assist in the training and further education of professionals, especially, but not only, from developing countries. ISS is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

When the ISS was created, the idea was to train and bring to the Netherlands young, bright people, mainly government employees initially, from mainly post-colonial countries. This was one way in which the Netherlands sought to develop good relationships with intellectuals and policy makers in partner countries, including and beyond former Dutch colonies. For many years, the main funding body for ISS Masters students was the Dutch government, most recently through the Nuffic Foundation, which is usually administered through Embassies in the students' countries of origin. More recently the profile of students who come to study for Masters and PhDs at the ISS has been changing. A greater proportion are from Europe and North America, and even from the Netherlands, as well as from Central Asia and former communist bloc countries, however, the majority are still from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Institute's former academic staff and students form a kind of diasporic community that often retain close ties to the Institute. Their shared concerns include thinking 'outside the box' of conventional economic development policies. There is a shared view that good practice and good analysis should go together in the world of development. Across interests as diverse as development economics, human rights, women and gender and agrarian change, ISS students and staff often work together as well as learn together. A strong historical trend has been to study and research 'alternatives' to mainstream thinking about development. A wide range of disciplines is represented, from economics to women's studies and international law. Across all the work of the ISS, what seems to emerge as a common theme is the question of how theory and practice connect in constructing development outcomes.