Science, research and universities

Nobel prize winners

Nobel prize winners

Academic exchanges

Academic relations between Germanyand the wider world are also for the Federal Foreign Office an important focus. It is of course one of the main priorities of the Directorate-General for Culture and Communication, which – with the aid of various instruments as well as considerable funds – works hard to ensure Germany is well placed internationally to compete for the best brains. All these activities – collectively known as “research and academic relations policy” – are carried out in line with the German Government’s strategy to internationalize higher education and research in Germanyand in agreement with other ministries.

Research and Academic Relations Initiative

Under the motto “connecting worlds of knowledge”, the Federal Foreign Office is stepping up support for international academic exchanges. Existing policy instruments are to be further developed and new ones put in place, which over the longer term will make for a significantly improved science and research environment. These will include a number of new scholarship programmes run by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the establishment – in cooperation with research organizations and companies with a strong research focus – of “German science fora” and the creation of new centres of excellence for teaching and research at universities abroad.

For more information on the Initiative and in particular the 12 featured researchers, click here:

“Connecting worlds of knowledge” – Research and Academic Relations Initiative

Scholarships and university partnerships

Scholarships and academic exchanges are still the main plank of our cultural relations agenda for higher education and research. Increasingly, however, we are also supporting partnerships between German universities and universities in other parts of the world, in Kazakhstan, for example, as well as Indonesia, China and Oman. In a number of cases this has resulted in new dual degree courses and even – a growing trend – the founding of new universities like the German University in Cairo or, most recently, the German-Turkish University in Istanbul.

There is growing emphasis on providing appropriate support for international students and academics studying or carrying out research at German universities. Programmes have also been set up to maintain contact with alumni once they return to their home countries.

Cultural organizations

The Federal Foreign Office does not undertake all these activities itself but delegates the task to independent organizations along with the relevant funds from the federal budget. Accordingly bodies such as the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation run their own scholarship and travel grant programmes etc. In this connection they cooperate closely with German embassies abroad and sometimes even develop comprehensive support programmes geared, for example, to rebuilding higher education in Iraq.

Marketing Germany as a location

For an advanced technology country such as ours promoting international cooperation is an essential component of any strategy for the future. This calls for intensive marketing of Germanyas a higher education and research location. Through education fairs, targeted advisory services and a wide range of publications we seek to make Germanyeven better known to an international public.

Cooperation in Europe

The German Government is actively involved in the so-called Bologna Process, which is designed to create by 2010 a homogenous European higher education area. In other ways, too, it shapes relations with neighbouring countries through projects such as the Franco-German University, which opens up new opportunities for intensive cooperation between the over 150 participating universities in both countries, or the Franco-German Forum, an annual event that provides information on career prospects and studying in the two countries. With the recent establishment of a German-Polish Research Foundation, a further foundation was laid for intensified cooperation with our eastern neighbour.

Last updated 10.03.2011