History

In 1969, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) asked Swiss universities to examine how they could contribute to Switzerland’s development cooperation. As a result, in 1970 ETH Zurich launched the postgraduate programme Interdisziplinärer Nachdiplomkurs über Probleme der Entwicklungsländer (INDEL) that prepared graduates for a career in development cooperation. The programme combined one semester of development studies with a 4 month overseas project to gain hands-on development experience. In 1980, the programme was named Nachdiplomstudium für Entwicklungsländer (with the acronym NADEL).

In the 1980s NADEL established a new programme structure, extending the field assignment to 6-12 months and adding a second semester after the project assignment. The courses in the second semester mainly focused on instruments and methods for planning, implementation and evaluation of development projects. In the 1990s NADEL introduced a second post-graduate programme aimed at professionals who could attend the courses while still working.

In the 2000s, those two programmes became the Master of Advanced Studies in Development and Cooperation (ETH MAS D&C), a three-semester full-time programme, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Development and Cooperation (ETH CAS D&C) for development professionals with two years of work-experience, which can be completed part-time. Since the 2010s, NADEL, by then a well-known acronym in Switzerland, has focused increasingly on linking research and teaching with policy and practice to find innovative solutions to local and global development challenges.

Starting 2024, the MAS and CAS C&D became MAS and CAS ETH in Global Cooperation and Sustainable Development (MAS / CAS ETH GCSD) to reflect a comprehensive perspective on global development and sustaining human life and equality on this planet.

Since its inception more than 50 years ago, NADEL has trained more than 1000 development professionals, many of whom hold leading roles in Swiss and international development organizations. NADEL teaching programmes are continuously being adapted to meet the challenges of development cooperation in a changing world.    

Prof. Dr. Martin Menzi was NADEL’s first director (1981-1991), followed by Prof. Dr. Rolf Kappel (1992-2013), and Prof. Dr. Isabel Günther (since 2014), who also heads the ETH Zurich Development Economics Group.