On Friday (4 December) Minister of State Cornelia Pieper will meet 170 DAAD scholarship holders at the Federal Foreign Office. She will deliver a welcoming address to be followed by a panel debate during which some scholarship holders will report on their experiences in Germany.

The scholarship holders are studying at German universities and all graduated from German schools abroad. Since 2001 the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has granted scholarships, from Federal Foreign Office funds, to the best graduates from the German schools and language institutes which take part in the “Schools: Partners for the Future” (PASCH) Initiative.

Under the auspices of the Research and Academic Relations Initiative 2009, the number of scholarships awarded each year was raised to almost 200.

The scholarship holders from 44 countries began their studies in October. Most of them (around 63%) come from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and, for the first time, the CIS countries. They are studying a wide range of subjects.