Designed for professionals as well as students, with limited time and resources, our short courses allow you to specialise in a variety of field of studies.
Short courses
For government officials, embassy and NGO staff, and students
Introduction to International Negotiations
Enhance your negotiation skills with us!
Need to negotiate daily but lack the skills to do so successfully? If so, this short course could be the answer. Through practical exercises, case analysis and group discussion you will learn the strategies needed to solve conflicts of interest in a sustainable way.
About the course
This four-day course aims to form and enhance participants’ awareness of the negotiating process. They will acquire the tools and develop the skills required to manage everyday negotiation situations successfully.
The course is taught by Prof. Dr. Felix Addor, a veteran international negotiator with the Swiss government, and Deputy Director General of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (Swiss Ministry of Justice), the federal agency in charge of all intellectual property matters in Switzerland
Course dates
7, 14, 21 and 28 March 2025
3 ECTS
Venue
World Trade Institute (WTI), Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern
*Please note that this course is only offered on site*
Admission
The course is open to government officials, embassy staff, people working for international organisations and NGOs as well as students from different universities. If you are interested, please send an email to masters@wti.org including your updated CV in PDF.
Fees
1,000 Swiss francs
PAST COURSE - Digital Trade Law
What's peculiar about digital trade? And how is it regulated at multilateral and bilateral levels?
Learn about the contemporary landscape of global digital trade rulemaking.
About the course
The course explores the dynamic field of digital trade governance. It offers a deep understanding of the topic of digital trade, as well as of the emergent regulatory framework that governs it. This includes the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the detailed framework of rules developed in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). The course covers in this latter sense major agreements, such as the CPTPP, the USMCA and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and gives a clear sense of the positioning of the key stakeholders within the preferential trade landscape and under the WTO plurilateral negotiations under the Joint Initiative on E-Commerce.
The course also explores the new generation of Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) as legal innovation in the domain of digital trade regulation and as a new model of international cooperation in a technologically fluid environment. While the focus of the course is on global trade law, it also explores the important interfaces with domestic data governance regimes and the contestations around digital trade and privacy; digital trade and human rights; digital trade and sustainability, as well as data inequalities and the development dimension of global digital trade rulemaking.
Find the full syllabus here and below.
Lecturer
Mira Burri is Professor of International Economic and Internet Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. She teaches international intellectual property, media, internet and trade law. Mira’s current research interests are in the areas of digital trade, culture, copyright, data protection and data governance. Mira is the principal investigator of the project ‘Trade Law 4.0’ (ERC Consolidator Grant 2021– 2026; https://digitaltradelaw.ch/). She consults the European Parliament, UNESCO, ASEAN, the WEF and others on issues of digital trade and data-driven innovation. Mira is also a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Mira has edited the publications Trade Governance in the Digital Age (Cambridge University Press 2012) and Big Data and Global Trade Law (Cambridge University Press 2021).
Course dates
11 April, 18 April, 25 April and 2 May 2024, 9:30 – 12:00 hrs
2 ECTS
Venue
World Trade Institute (WTI), Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern
This course is hybrid: it is offered on-site and online (Zoom).
Admission
The course is open to government officials, embassy staff, people working for international organisations and NGOs, WTI alumni, and Master students from any faculty of the University of Bern or any other university worldwide.
If you are interested, please send an email to masters@wti.org
Fees
600 Swiss francs
PAST COURSE - Trade Policy Making and the WTO
Catch up on global economic governance, the WTO, its past and future, with the very best in the field!
About the course
This course will look into the issue of global economic governance and the role of the WTO in the current international context. It will cover a brief background on the founding principles and functions of the WTO and check whether these are still valid and operational today.
The course will then explore the issue of WTO Reform, based on the problems and proposals identified by Members. This includes issues of transparency, negotiations and dispute settlement. The course will also look into the evolution of WTO Ministerial Conferences.
Lecturer
Victor do Prado is a professor of Economic Diplomacy at the Paris School of International Affairs - SciencesPo and Senior Fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations. From 2012 to 2022, he was the Director of the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division at the WTO. He was a diplomat and member of the Brazilian delegation and negotiating team during the concluding phase of the Uruguay Round and early years of the WTO. Victor do Prado served as a panelist in three WTO dispute settlement cases. From 2005 to 2012, he was WTO’s Deputy Chief of Staff.
Course dates
April 29 and 30, 2024
1 ECTS
Venue
World Trade Institute (WTI), Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern
This course is hybrid: it is offered on-site and online (Zoom).
Admission
The course is open to government officials, embassy staff, people working for international organisations and NGOs, WTI alumni as well as students from different universities. If you are interested, please send an email to masters@wti.org including your updated CV in PDF.
Fees
250 Swiss francs
PAST COURSE - Government Procurement Regulation in the WTO
Can international procurement law be reconciled with government principles and other policy objectives, like environmental and social sustainability?
Learn about government procurement law and how it's regulated at the multilateral, WTO level.
About the course
This course provides an introduction to the international law governing government procurement (also referred to as “public procurement”). Students will gain an in-depth understanding of what government procurement is and how it is regulated within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) through the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).
The course will focus on contemporary issues that surround international government procurement, e.g. the strategic use of government procurement to advance sustainability goals. Finally, students will familiarize themselves with current developments in government procurement within the WTO, on a national level and through Free Trade Agreements (FTA).
Find the full syllabus here and below.
Lecturer
Dr. Rika Koch is an assistant professor and co-leader of the public procurement research group at the Bernese University of Applied Science (BFH). In addition, she is a lecturer in WTO Law and a guest lecturer on Swiss foreign economic law at the Universities of Zurich and Bern. Before her current role, she served as a legal counsel in the Swiss Federal Administration, where she advised on a number of legal issues, especially public procurement projects.
She studied political science at the University of Zurich, Law at the University of Bern and did her PhD in green government procurement at the University of Zurich with a research stay at the University of Nottingham (UK), funded by the Swiss National Foundation SNF.
In her research, she focuses on public procurement law at the intersection of environmental and social law, but also on questions surrounding public procurement law and digitalization, such as data protection and artificial intelligence (AI).
Course dates
Four Thursdays in October and November (19.10, 2.11, 16.11, 30.11), 9.15 – 11.45 hrs
2 ECTS
Venue
World Trade Institute (WTI), Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern
This course is hybrid: it is offered on-site and online (Zoom).
Admission
The course is open to government officials, embassy staff, people working for international organisations and NGOs, WTI alumni Master students from the University of Bern or any other university worldwide.
If you are interested, please send an email to masters@wti.org
Fees
600 Swiss francs