Welcome
Education and research
Latin America’s role in the sphere of science, research and innovation is growing constantly. The region is becoming an increasingly important partner. There are a large number of collaborations between German and Latin American universities and research institutes.
Vocational training – dual training system
In many Latin American countries, there is keen interest in the German dual system of vocational training. This kind of training is thus an important focus of bilateral relations with many partners in the region. In the countries of the Pacific Alliance in particular (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru), Germany as an observer country is playing an active role when it comes to vocational training.
Research cooperation
Our research cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, focuses on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.
German research institutes such as the Leibniz Association, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Max Planck Institutes and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation maintain in-depth cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, for example in the fields of biodiversity, infectious disease, materials and physics, specifically astrophysics.
São Paulo, Brazil, is home to one of just six German Centres for Research and Innovation in the world, serving as a shared platform for German scientific organisations and companies that conduct research.
Cooperation at universities
Many Latin American and Caribbean countries are investing growing amounts in the education sector and in its internationalisation. There is considerable interest in greater academic exchange with Germany. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) focuses its bilateral cooperation on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
The DAAD has a strong presence across the region, with three Regional Offices (in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico), three Information Centres (in Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica) and its network of Advisory Services, lectorships, long-term lectureships and professorships.
Furthermore, as part of the Research and Academic Relations Initiative, three of a total of five centres of excellence worldwide have been set up in Latin America – the Corporation Center of Excellence in Marine Sciences (CEMarin) and the German-Colombian Peace Institute (CAPAZ), both in Colombia, as well as the Heidelberg Center in Santiago. The German-Argentine University Centre promotes academic cooperation and the development of binational degree courses at German and Argentine universities.
Promoting the German language
German as a foreign language has a stable foothold in Latin America. There are some 569 schools offering German classes, with a total of around 250,000 pupils currently learning the language. It attracts particular interest in areas where many families have immigrated from Germany. The partner school network in Latin America now numbers 189 schools including 37 German Schools Abroad. Most of the latter were founded by German immigrants for their children and their neighbours’ children, some of them 150 years ago. They have now developed into major international schools and include the largest one anywhere in the world: Porto Seguro in São Paulo with a total of some 10,000 pupils, most of whom are Brazilian. Seven of these schools have vocational training centres, which primarily offer business training courses based on German models.
The main vehicles for promoting interest in the German language in Latin America also include the 13 Goethe-Institut branches, which offer German classes as well as training courses for teachers of German. In addition, Latin America has 13 Goethe-Zentrum branches, 33 DAAD lectorships and 42 funded binational cultural associations.
