Some Helpful Statistics...

By: Ivy

Although someone once told me "there are lies, darn lies, and statistics," I still think they help to put some relationships in context. Today we had a morning introduction at UNESCO-IHE that gave some helpful background information regarding the organization.

Some numbers I found useful in wrapping my head around the scope of the work accomplished at the Institute, their focus, and how things work:

Contrary to what I thought, about 30% of projects worked on take place in the Northern Hemisphere; projects may be primarily in developing countries, but definitely not all.

The Institute maintains about 180 staff, about 54% of which are academic. They offer 4 programs with 14 specialties. For a list of programs available see:
http://www.unesco-ihe.org/Education

The IHE has awarded post graduate Master of Science degrees since 1957. Currently, they have 200 MSc students per class, and classes run about twice per year (overlapping). Although the Institute maintains over 100 Ph.D. candidates, degrees are awarded in conjunction with another Dutch college, as the Institute is not yet accredited to award this degree.

The most striking statistic was the number of alumni: 13,400 people from 162 countries around the world. This fact is pretty clear from the moment you walk in the Institute. In our first 10 minutes at a meet and greet I had met people from Colombia, Venezuela, Egypt, and Mongolia.


The Netherlands government provides a majority of the funding, with the rest coming from EU Projects and competitive grants. Although UNESCO and IHE are integrated, no funding actually is received from UNESCO, allowing IHE to be independent in their decision making.

It truly is a privilege to have the opportunity to be a small part of the important work carried out this very unique and global institution.