Training successful and experienced trade policy makers, practitioners and negotiators cannot be done in the classroom alone. To accelerate students' experience of the trade policy environment and familiarize them with some of the people, questions, data and tools they may potentially be dealing with in the future, the Virtual Institute offers 1 - 3 week study tours of Geneva-based institutions.

Centered on UNCTAD, but also visiting our partners at the WTO, the ITC, WIPO, the ILO and the WHO, students from masters programs at the Member Universities spend one to three weeks covering a rigorous program of topics on the international trade and development agenda, that expose them to experts and the surroundings of trade policy making and negotiation.

To participate in a Study Tour, you must be a full university member of the Virtual Institute network. All documentation, resources, workshops and activities are provided free of charge, but it is expected that students and/or the university will pay for travel, accommodation and visas.

Recent study tours:

11 - 22 May, 2009 - UNCTAD Virtual Institute (Vi) Study Tour for the University of the West Indies

23 - 27 March, 2009 - UNCTAD Virtual Institute (Vi) Study Tour for Vi member universities from the Russian Federation

5 - 16 May, 2008 - UNCTAD Virtual Institute (Vi) Study Tour for the University of the West Indies

31 March - 5 April, 2008 - UNCTAD Virtual Institute (Vi) Study Tour for Vi member universities from the Russian Federation