German Academic Exchange Service

Type:	Government Agency
Industry:	Higher Education
Founded:	1925
Headquarters:	Bonn
Country:	Germany
Employees:	501-1000 (2016)
Email:	daadca@daad.org
Website:	DAAD Website
Facebook:	DAAD Facebook
LinkedIn:	DAAD LinkedIn

The German Academic Exchange Service (German: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)) is a self governing organization of higher education institutions in Germany that promotes international academic relations and cooperation by offering mobility programs primarily for students and faculty, but also for administrators and others in the higher education realm. The DAAD funding programs provide scholarships which help finance a semester abroad, doctoral programs and internships, guest lectureships, visits to information events, and even the establishment of new universities abroad.

History

The DAAD was founded in 1925 by the German student Carl Joachim Friedrich who was able to obtain 13 fellowships from the Institute of International Education for Germans in the social sciences, after having had a positive experience studying in the United States. Since it was founded, it has supported more than 2.0 million academics in Germany and abroad.

Funding

In 2014, the operating budget for the DAAD was approximately 441 million euros. Its most important funding providers include the Federal Foreign Office – AA (40%), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – BMBF (23%), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (9%) and the European Union – EU (15%). The sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany are responsible for covering the tuition costs of the foreign scholarship holders. Other sponsors include foreign governments, companies, foundations and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.