programmes andthe PROMOS programme,through whichthe.daad.supports stays abroad. throughthe universities EU mobility programmes such as Erasmus+ andthe German. Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) also. help make international study possible thefact that university students from educationally. disadvantaged groups go abroad more seldom. than their academic peers is also due tothe fact. that they assessthe value of astay abroad somewhat lower, andare less likely to have spent. time abroad during their school years auniversity student with prior experience abroad will bemore open tothe idea of going abroad during. his or her degree programme. new ways to support young researchersthe.daad.programme “Postdoctoral Researchers. International Mobility Experience” (PRM E )
is anew approach to promoting international. mobility among young researchersthe funding. covers aone-year research stayin aforeign. country followed by ahalf-year reintegration. phase at aGerman university Duringthe stay. abroad,the researcher can already begin working. withthe German host university to.plan and. preparethe continuation of his or her research. back home This helps ensure thatthe newly. acquired knowledge is put to use as efficientlyand effectively as possible backin Germanythe PR
M E programme is open to applicants. of all nationalities, and is therefore an attractive. opportunity for foreign students pursuing their. doctoral studiesin Germany Response to theprogramme has revealed tremendous demandin this areathe first call for applications. resultedin 344 application submissions, from. which 31 top candidates were chosen to receive. funding Funding for PR
M E is provided bythe Federal Ministry of Education and Research(BMBF) andthe EU programme COFUND. Internships aroundthe world. Whetherin Latin America, Africa or
programme,the DAAD. continues to explore new. channels for international. mobility for young. researchers. ofthe***
applicants who responded tothe first call for applications, 31 were selected to receive funding
successful young researchersinthe P. R. I. M. E
programme assemble for thekickoffin
With “RIse worldwide” to
Relaxed atmosphere at.
“Thinking about Europein terms of solidarity“(“Europa solidarisch denken!”) isthe motto of theinterdisciplinary “Kolleg Europa”, launchedin ***
as ajoint initiative ofthe DAAD,the Alfred Toepfer. Stiftung F. V. S. andthe Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Overthe course of one year, “Kolleg. Europa” offers 60 graduate studentsthe opportunity to take partin interdisciplinary, international. working groups on topics related to Germanyand Europe - an opportunity for dialogue, exchange,networking and definingthe research topics ofthe future. in late September 2014, “phase one” ofthe Kolleg. kicked-off with an event atthe Wannsee Forum inBerlin. The opening ceremony included welcoming. speeches by high-ranking representatives of thethree partner institutions and was followed bya..plenary session onthe question of solidarity inEurope. All ofthe lecturers took partinthe.plenary. session, including Prof. Michael Werner, director ofthe Centre interdisciplinaire d‘études etde recherche sur l‘Allemagne (CIERA) and Prof. Ton Nijhuis,director ofthe Institute for German Studies (DIA)
The participants ofthe Kolleg included seven. master’s students and eight PhD students from. 10 countries, all of whom study and/or work at. DAAD-supported centres for German and European Studies. The participants took partin working. groups led by international experts, engaging. with students from German and international. universitiesin discussions onthe subject of “Who. shapes
supporting young multipliers. With its “Kolleg Europa” programme and its Centres. for German and European Studies,the.daad.pursues.comprehensive goals: to bring together and. inspire international and German students across. disciplines and national boundaries, and to give. this young generation of multipliersthe German
European expertise they need to ensure continuityinthe collaborative efforts between Germanyand its partner countries. With funding provided. bythe Federal Foreign Office,the.daad.currently. supports 17 centresin 11 countries
“Kolleg europa” fosters interdisciplinary exchange26the scholarship and. support programme stIBet. is first onthe list of DAAD. programmes designed to make foreign students feel. welcomein
Structures for. internationalisation An international outlook and strong ties to international university partners has long-since. characterisedthe higher education landscape inGermanythe.daad.supports these universitiesand their international partners to further.develop these networks and implement their. internationalisation strategies. ‘Welcome’ culture helps foreign. students acclimate. Foreign students and researchersare often more. productive and successful during their stay inGermany if they can integrate into university. life andthe German culture To support this, theDAAD works to create a“welcome” culture. through various programmes designed to foster. openness and hospitality First and foremost on. this list of programmes isthe scholarship and. support programme STIBET, for which theFederal Foreign Office (AA) provides some. 7 5 million eurosin funding each year aprogramme evaluation.combined with asurvey of 11,000 foreign students confirmedthe success. of STIBETthe majority ofthe universities surveyed indicated that over 50 percent of investmentsinthe “welcome” culture were made bythe STIBET programme; for roughly one-third. of participating universities this figure was over. 80 percentthe majority of foreign students are. satisfied with their stayin
›the first 21 projects were approvedin early 2013,each with afunding duration of four years, andthe first two years have proven successful as. collaborative partnerships take hold,.common. structuresare established and expanded, and thepartnerships attract more and more international. attention One example isthe thematic network. “Zones of Cultural Contact and Conflictin Eastern Europe”, which involvesthe Herder Insti tute. for Historical Research on East Central Europe,Giessen University, as well as univer sities inAlmaty (Kazakhstan), Minsk (Belarus), Łódź(Poland), Kazan (Russian Federation) and ClujNapoca (Romania) Another example isthe strategic partnership between Leibniz Universität. Hannover and
the focus on quality rather. than quantity takes international cooperation toa. new level. the programme’s. second call for applications. was issuedin ***
28the “Strategic Partnerships and Thematic. Networks” projects also receive ongoing support. fromthe.daad.Due tothe continued demand. onthe part of universities, asecond call for. applications was issuedin July 2014 and once. again elicited avery positive response, witha. total of 89 applications submitted As with thefirst call for applications,the engineering and. natural sciences werethe most.common areas. of focus amongthe applicants. takingthe lead internationally. Alsoin great demand aroundthe world are. German transnational education (TNE) programmes, whichthe.daad.has supported for. over ten years through adedicated TNE programme With funding fromthe Federal Ministry. of Education and Research (BMBF), TNE programmes emphasise quality and international. cooperation, andare highly regarded aroundthe worldthe most visible of these projects atthe international levelarethe newly-established. universities such asthe German University inCairo (GUC),the German Jordanian University(GJU) andthe German University of Technology(GUTech)in Oman More than 20,000 studentsare currently enrolledin German TNE projects,which have produced over 10,000 graduates inthe last several years After opening its doorsin September 2013,the new Turkish-German. Universityin Istanbul was officially inaugurated. by German Federal President Joachim Gauckand Turkish President Abdullah Gül on. 29 April 2014the university began with three. bachelor’s and three master’s degree programmes; additional degree programmes are..planned for 2015 Five German universities - FU Berlin, TU Berlin,
table 2: Programmes to promotethe internationalisation of higher educationin 2014(selection)
II. Mobility. Erasmus. PROMOS - Programme to enhancethe mobility of German students. ISAP - International Study and Exchange Programmes. Integrated international study courses with double degree. Bachelor.plus. Go East. STIBET - Scholarship and guidance-counselling programme. RISE - Research Internshipsin Science and Engineering. Conference travel and lecture tours. Higher education marketing (GATE-Germany)
Research marketing. go out!. number of projects. number of beneficiaries. expenditures inthousand eUR
members ofthe university.community and. academic/career advisors atthe German Federal. Employment Agency To better reach secondary. school and university students,the DAAD.developed a“go out” app which can be used to accessthe.daad.scholarship database and help..plan asemester abroadin 2014,the.daad.encouraged universities to develop new ideas for promoting international. mobility among students atotal of 65 universities took partinthe.competition, financed bythe BMBF, to identifythe best advertising and. motivational campaignsthe ten winners each. received 15,000 eurosin prize money and were. honouredin May 2014 atthe 8th Symposium onthe International Mobility of German Studentsin
nthe “go out” app helps. school and university. students.plan and prepare. for astay abroad, and. allows users to access theDAAD scholarship database.
opening ceremony:ViceChancellors of tU. Ilmenau and
strong partners are. even stronger together. First germanRussian university. launched. Whenthe.russian Federation’s. semi-autonomous
onthe.russian side, one of 50.designated national research. universitiesin.russia. The DAAD. supportsthe project with funding. fromthe BMBF-financed transnational education programme(TNE). Althoughthe project has. also received significant initial. funding from both Tatarstanand.russia, GRIAT’s goal is to become financially independent. withthe help of tuition fees
A winwin situation. For Tatarstan, GRIAT is another. stepinthe direction of internationalisation. “German engineering programmes have an. excellent reputation and theclose collaboration between. German universities and. german higher education. projects funded by theDAAD. German higher education. projects abroad. Centres of Excellence inAfrica / African Excellence. “exceed” - Higher Education. Excellencein Development. Cooperation. Bicultural study programmes. Centres of Excellence. Study programmesin GermanMinsk. Bishkek.
industry is, forthe.russian side,a very important factor as well,”. explains Dr. Gisela Zimmermann,DAAD project manager for Higher. Education Projectsin Eastern. Europe,the
Forthe German partners, GRIAT. is an opportunity to establish. a presenceinthe
Becausethe students will.complete their third semester at one. ofthe German partner universities,the curriculum also includes. German language training
GRIAT.plans to add university. partners and additional degree. programmes overthe long term
Withthe tremendous enthusiasm, energy and.commitment. behindthe launch of GRIAT, theonly “bad news” isthe political. tension betweenthe EU and..
The.daad.nevertheless remains..committed to GRIAT. “We’re very. clear about our position and we. also make clear where there are. problems between Germanyand.russia,” says Geifes. “But weare also.committed to maintaining our partnershipsin thearea of education and making. surethe lines of.communication. remain open. ”Highlight. 32the long-standing, highly-successful. Erasmus programme -the EU’s oldest education programme - was theinspiration forthe new “ Erasmus+”. programme. Since January 2014,Erasmus+.combines existing EU programmesinthe areas of education(secondary school, higher education),professional training and youth.development. In
The EU has approved abudget of arecor***
7 billion euros for Erasmus+ programmes through ***
The scope ofthe funding attracted agreat deal. of interestinthe national conference to launch. Erasmus+. Over 500 representatives from all five. Erasmus+ educational sectors came together with. policymakersin Berlinin April ***
in late June 2014,the NA.daad.invited representatives from all participating German universities tothe annual Erasmus+ conference to conducta. progress assessment. After one year it was clear. that measuresinthe key action areas “ mobility”,“partnerships and cooperation projects” and. “support for policy reform” had been launched. successfully
The EU programmes were also amajor theme atthe European Association for International Education (EAIE) conferencein
Fruitful collaborationthe NA.daad.developed anew format for joint. regional events together withthe participating. German Erasmus National Agencies atthe Federal. Institute for Vocational Education and Training,the Educational Exchange Service and Youth for.
caughtthe attention of representatives from. all educational sectors. Previously conducted as. purely informational events,the more hands-on,practice-oriented approach has added quality and.depth tothe individual Agency events. The format. will therefore continuein ***
Innovative approaches were also implementedinthe area of “support for policy reform” - thethird key-action area within Erasmus+ (“Support. for policy reform-Forward-looking cooperation. projectsin education and training”). The FAIR. project, which is supported withinthe context of this third key-action area, wants to develop. A european success story: erasmu***
A big crowd for erasmus+ inBerlin. Alsoin attendance. were Androulla Vassiliou,eU.commissioner for. education, and Dr. siegbert. Wuttig, Director of thenational Agency for eU. higher education Cooperation withinthe DAAD automatic recognition mechanisms overthe next. two and ahalf years.
This is considered afollow-up project tothe socalled “Bologna Experts”
Investmentin international mobilitythe international dimension of Erasmus+ has. created anew challenge. Inthe second half of 2014,the configuration of these.components was thesubject of lively discussions betweenthe European. National Agencies andthe European.commission. One objective is to enable greater mobility. by increasing collaboration between European. universities andthe European Union’s neighbours,such as
Thereare many good reasons to learn theGerman language, and more and more young. people aroundthe worldare citingthe benefits:enhanced career opportunities,the option ofa. study or research stayin
german studies from thePortuguese perspective:Prof. Antonio sousa Ribeiro. fromthe university inCoimbra,
›35
Bundled expertise. Conference of Centres for. german and european studies. “Inthe
A joint conferencein December. 2014 provided another opportunity to further strengthen and. expandthe ZeDES network. For. scientists and researchers from. 11 different countries,the network provides aunique opportunity to initiate.comprehensive,multifaceted research, and gain. new perspectives on topics relevant to
Internationalisation. of research perspectives. Participantsinthe 2014 conference consideredthe topic of disruption and continuity inGerman history - “ turning points”. between 1914 and 2014 - fromthe perspective of their different. fields and areas of expertise
DAAD Secretary General. Dr. Dorothea Rüland and Nicole. Menzenbach, head ofthe Science, Research and Universities.department atthe Federal. Foreign Office, greeted experts. from aroundthe world who. came to
“the outbreaks of World War
With its retrospective on(100 years ago) and World War II(75 years ago), or onthe fall ofthe Berlin Wall (25 years ago), theZeDES conference was extremely. productivein this extraordinary..commemorative year ***
Many. ofthe discussions revisited theage-old question: ‘What can we. learn from history?’ as we look. ahead intothe 21st century
This topic is one that is addressed. again and againin public. discourse
Dr. Krijn thijs, postdocin theDuitsland Instituut bij de Universiteit van Amsterdam (DIA)
“ered atthe conference were new. Many ofthe aspects considWith our different regional and. interdisciplinary perspectives, we. were able to create something. unique
Prof. Michael Werner, director. ofthe Centre interdisciplinaire. d‘études etde recherche sur. l‘Allemagne (CIeRA)in
was able to learn agreat deal about theGermany researchers from different centres - their research focus. areas as well as their different. political and cultural perspectives
It was interesting to see how. these perspectives varied and how. they reflected, to alarge degree,the relations betweenthe given. country and
Prof. huang liaoyu, director
in
Dr. Krijn thijs spoke about. “turning points” between. 1914 and 2014 (top)
Prof. huang liaoyu, Director,Center of german studies(ZDs)in Beijingin conversation with Prof. hartmut. eggert fromthe Freie Universität
nthe egyptian translation. studies expert nahla tawfik. receivedthe grimm sponsorship Award for young. foreign scholars. tawfik. champions modern german. language instruction that. engages and appeals to today’s studentsin
Presentation ofthe ***
Jacob and Wilhelm grimm. Prize: lecture by prize. winner Prof. Yixu liu (left)
and smiles with MinDirig. Andreas Meitzner,Prof. Christian Fandrych,Dr. nahla tawfik and DAAD. Vice President Prof. Joybrato. Mukherjee (l. to r. )
lively dialogue and exchange atthe anniversary meeting. of.daad.France lektors inParis (below)
While fewer southern European students are. interestedin traditional German Studies programmes, more and more want to learn theGerman
countries, including 57 Lektors for individual. subjects Lektors also promote
markedthe 60th anniversary ofthe highly. successful Lektor programmein
campaign, sponsored bythe German federal. government First,the scholarship programme. for outstanding graduates of German schools. abroad and partner schools, and second, theBIDS programme (BetreuungsInitiative Deutsche. Auslands- und
PartnerSchulen), asupport initiative for German schools abroad and partner. schools aimed at German universities table 3: Programmes for promotingthe german language abroadin 2014(selection)
Centres for German and European Studies. German language and literature studies institute partnerships (GIP)
Language and specialist courses (intensive language courses; university summer and winter courses)
Lektor programme. Language assistant programme. number of projects. number of beneficiaries. expenditures inthousand eUR,the scholarship programme supported. 645 young people from over 50 countries forthe full duration of their university degree. programmesin Germany Twenty-five of thesescholarship holders gatheredin
e
«. learning german and. studying abroad:the DAAD. has repositioned its. activities for promoting. german language and. german studiesin response tothe changing demand. aroundthe world***
By expanding its existing. scholarship programmes,the.daad.wants to support An additional 1,000 African. students by ***
ninthe area of higher education cooperation with.developing countries,the DAAD’s main focusin 2014 was on assessing and increasing theimpact of its activitiesin Africathe DAAD’s.
African scholarship holders can be supported. bythe year 2019 This isthe largest and most. important projectinthe area of scholarships and. will be funded bythe Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). together with West Africathe.daad.has expanded its cooperation with.
projectin collaboration withthe African and. Malgache Higher Education Council (CAMES)
the.daad.will support West African universitiesand regional.playersinthe area of quality. assurancein November 2014the.daad.hosted. a confer encein
Overthe last five years, atotal of 463 scholarship holders. from Africa, Asia and
“I want to putthe new knowledge into practice politically when
return to