From the outset, research at the IEE has been characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to the study of economic, political, and sociocultural development in the countries of the South. At the beginning of the 1990s the IEE laid the foundation blocks of its new interdisciplinary approach to teaching in the fields of development policy and management. A first step was the development of its three year interdisciplinary PhD programme "System Efficiency and Dynamics in Developing Countries", which started in the spring of 1995. The programme which is sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and includes students from economics, geography, Islamic studies, law, political science, and sociology is built on collegiate structure that follows a three year cycle. The programme is currently in its third and last round. In autumn 2000 the IEE its MA in Development Management. This is an international 18-month degree course in English designed to meet the needs of professional programme and project managers for development cooperation. Due to the overwhelming interest in this new course, the IEE is also offering it at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, since 2002 as part of a programme run by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), "Studienangebote deutscher Hochschulen im Ausland" which is financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of its "Zukunftsinvestitionsprogramm" (ZIP). In addition, the institute cooperates with research institutes and universities in Germany and abroad. Links exist to institutions in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Marocco, Namibia, Poland, Russia, Republic of South Africa, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as to Euopean and Euopean/African university networks.
