The academic programme of the Ecumenical Institute is carried out through plenary lectures, seminar work, individual study and research, supervised reading, Bible studies, study visits and group and individual assessment. Each student is required to participate in all plenary lectures and Bible studies and complete two of the four modules which are offered during the Graduate School.

Bossey is a multicultural and multilingual place for ecumenical formation. Participants in seminars, the Graduate School /Master/Ph.D. of Ecumenical Studies are expected to contribute to this by their willingness to speak a language other than their mother tongue.

The working language of the students in the Graduate School/Master/Ph.D. of Ecumenical Studies is English. On certain occasions, when the lecturers do not speak English, interpretation from French, Spanish, German or Russian into English is provided by Bossey. The required final research papers, however, can be written in English, French or German.

In order to prepare students wishing to study at Bossey but having a limited knowledge of English, a three month intensive English course based on ecumenical texts is organised by Bossey each Summer.

The short-term seminars also use English as the working language unless stated otherwise.

Due to its location in French speaking Switzerland, and its affiliation to the University of Geneva, French continues to be the second most important language spoken at Bossey. Moreover, most of the books in the University of Geneva library are in French.

Related link:

Université de Genève - Faculté autonome de théologie protestante