Geneve Map

• Geneva is home to the University of Geneva, founded by John Calvin in 1559. Despite its medium size (about 13000 students), the University of Geneva is regularly ranked among the best world universities. In 2011, the ranking web of universities ranked it 35th European university.

• Located in the heart of International Geneva, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies was among the first academic institutions to teach international relations in the world and it proposes today MA and PhD programmes in Law, Political Science, History, Economics, International Affairs, and Development Studies.

• Also, the oldest international school in the world is located in Geneva, the International School of Geneva, founded in 1924 along with the League of Nations. Webster University, an accredited American university, also has a campus in Geneva. Moreover, the city is home to the Institut International de Lancy (founded in 1903) and to the International University in Geneva, an accredited International University.

• The Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations is a private university on the grounds of the Château de Penthes, an old manor with a park and view of Lake Geneva.

• The Canton of Geneva's public school system has écoles primaires (ages 4–12) and cycles d'orientation (ages 12–15). The obligation to attend school ends at age 16, but secondary education is provided by collèges (ages 15–19), the oldest of which is the Collège Calvin, which could be considered one of the oldest public schools in the world.

• Geneva also has a choice of private schools. However, out of all the educational and research facilities in Geneva, CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is probably the best known on a world basis. Founded in 1954, CERN was one of Europe's first joint ventures and has developed as the world's largest particle physics laboratory. Physicists from around the world travel to CERN to research matter and explore the fundamental forces and materials that form the universe.

• In Geneva about 44,176 or (24.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 40,733 or (22.9%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule). Of the 40,733 who completed tertiary schooling, 31.3% were Swiss men, 31.1% were Swiss women, 20.5% were non-Swiss men and 17.2% were non-Swiss women.

• During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 28,930 students in the Geneva school system. The education system in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten. During that school year, there were 2,805 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Geneva there were 4,109 students in kindergarten or primary school and 607 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 4,109 lower secondary students who attended school in Geneva. There were 6,188 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 1,461 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 2,987 students attended a private school.

• As of 2000, there were 12,038 students in Geneva who came from another municipality, while 4,219 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

• Geneva is home to 5 major libraries. These libraries include; the Bibliothèques municipales Genève, the Haute école de travail social, Institut d'études sociales, the Haute école de santé, the Ecole d'ingénieurs de Genève and the Haute école d'art et de design. There was a combined total (as of 2008) of 877,680 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 1,798,980 items were loaned out.

• Geneva is the seat of the European headquarters of the United Nations. It is located in the Palace of Nations building (French: Palais des Nations) which was also the headquarters of the former League of Nations. Several agencies are headquartered at Geneva, among which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

• Apart from the United Nation agencies, Geneva hosts many inter-governmental organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

• Organizations on the European level, include the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) which is the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

• The Geneva Environment Network (GEN) publishes the Geneva Green Guide, and extensive listing of Geneva-based global organisations working on environment protection and sustainable development. A website (by the Swiss Government, WBCSD, UNEP and IUCN) includes stories about how NGOs, business, government and the UN cooperate. By doing so, it attempts to explain why Geneva has been picked by so many NGOs and UN as their headquarters location.

• The Great Council of Geneva (cantonal council) afterwards ignored the responsibilities thus undertaken; in imitation of Napoleon's "Organic Articles", it insisted upon the Placet, or previous approval of publication, for all papal documents. Catholic indignation ran high at the civil measures taken against Marilley, the parish priest of Geneva and later bishop of the see, and at the Kulturkampf, which obliged them to contribute to the budget of the Protestant Church and to that of the Old Catholic Church, without providing any public aid for Catholicism.

• The international status of the city was highlighted after World War I when Geneva became the seat of the League of Nations in 1919—notably through the work of the Federal Council member Gustav Ador and of Swiss diplomat William Rappard who was one of the founders of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Europe's oldest graduate school of international and development studies.

• In the wake of the war, a class struggle in Switzerland grew and culminated in a general strike throughout the country—beginning on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, and directed from the German-speaking part of the nation. However the prevailing friendliness toward France in Geneva moderated its effect upon that city.

• On 9 November 1932, several small Fascist-inspired political parties, such as the National Union, attacked Socialist leaders, which action led to a later demonstration of the Left against the Fascists. On that occasion, young recruits in the Swiss Army fired without warning into a crowd, leaving thirteen dead and 63 wounded. As a result, a new general strike was called several days later in protest.

• After World War II, the European headquarters of the United Nations and the seats of dozens of international organizations were installed in Geneva, resulting in the development of tourism and of business.

• In the 1960s, Geneva became one of the first parts of Switzerland in which the rights movements achieved a certain measure of success. It was the third canton to grant women's suffrage on the cantonal and communal levels.