[7] ISS was founded in 1952[8] by the Dutch government to assist in the training and further education of professionals, especially, but not only, from developing countries.

This was one way in which the Netherlands sought to develop good relationships with intellectuals and policy makers in partner countries, including and beyond former Dutch colonies.

[11] The partnership was carefully negotiated, due to ISS wanting to remain fairly autonomous and to retain its mission.

The courses are all taught in English and cover a number of different fields, including development economics, migration, public policy, governance, gender, agriculture, food, population, social security, children and youth, and human rights.

[17] ISS offers a 15.5-month Master in Development Studies with various Majors and postgraduate diploma programmes; there is also a two-year joint master's degree in Public Policy which requires students to study at ISS or at the Central European University in the first academic year, and at the University of York or the Institute on International Relations in Barcelona (IBEI) in the second year.

Postgraduate diploma programmes are also offered catering to the needs of young and mid-career professionals who wish to deepen their knowledge in a particular field related to their research or occupation.

[26] Much of the research carried out in the institute is available through publications online, either as journal articles or in the ISS Working Papers.

[28][29] As well as seminars by staff and PhD participants, visiting researchers and invited experts come to speak at ISS on a regular basis.

It does so by publicizing 'state of the art' high quality information about research and teaching at ISS and by stimulating debate on key and emerging development policy issues.