It is customised for professionals, typically early to mid-career diplomats and other international relations practitioners who seek the combination of academic and vocational study.
[2] Over its many years within the university, alumni of the programme have included royalty and heads of state, as well as senior government figures from all over the world.
[8] As many Commonwealth states gained independence, their governments sought trained diplomats to staff their Foreign Services.
[9] In the decades that followed, the programme expanded its audience to governments in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia.
After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office requested places be made available to newly independent, former Soviet countries to help build their diplomatic capacity.