The academy's alumni, faculty, and administration have included heads of state; foreign ministers; ambassadors; 12 judges of the International Court of Justice; one former secretary-general of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali; and two Nobel Prize recipients.

Dutch lawyer Tobias M. C. Asser proposed a plan that envisaged more or less what the academy was to become, with courses held from July to October.

When the Summer Courses started on 14 July 1923, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, 353 students originating from 31 countries attended, of whom 35 were women.

The UN General Assembly regularly refers to the “valuable contribution” that the academy "continues to make to the United Nations Program of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law".

The Administrative Council has close ties with the Dutch Carnegie Foundation which owns and manages the Peace Palace.

The academy is not a University: it does not have a permanent teaching staff, but its scientific body, the Curatorium, freely calls upon academics, practitioners, diplomats, and other personalities from all over the world whom it considers qualified to give courses, in English or French (with simultaneous interpretation).

The Summer programme is directed to advanced students and practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of international law, public or private.

A merit-based scholarship program allows approximately 20% of the students to receive assistance from public and private funding sources.

[16] Topics: At the end of the 1960s, the Academy established the Prestigious "External Program", which is normally held each year, in turn in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, upon the invitation of host governments or international organizations.

The series The Hague Academy of International Law Monographs, proposes revised and updated versions of certain courses given during the Summer programme.

When the work of the Centre has been of particular interest and originality, the reports of the Directors of Studies together with the articles by the researchers form the subject of a collection published in the series The Law Books of the Academy.

Within the framework of a small working group, the Colloquia bring together specialists on a chosen subject from various countries of the world.