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Wintermantel seeks to continue the work of the DAAD in raising the number of foreign students studying in Germany from the current figure of 245,000 to a level of 300,000 by the end of the decade. "Winning over foreign students is how we will make friends and partners for the future. What is more, if we fail to increase the number of international students in Germany, we will be unable to maintain our academic system’s excellence in light of demographic changes." The DAAD President pointed out that to attract the best students to Germany would also require making university admissions more straightforward and more flexible and better oriented towards students’ individual qualifications.

Wintermantel simultaneously wishes to ensure every second German university graduate gains international experience during their studies. The current level of a third has remained unchanged since 2001. This figure may be high by international standards yet is still too low in view of the trend towards globalisation. The key factors here are structured study programmes, an improvement in the recognition of study credits earned abroad, and sufficient funding of grants and scholarships. The DAAD will energetically continue its high commitment towards EU university programmes, in its role as Germany’s national agency for such programmes. In 2010/11, 34,000 German students and lecturers went abroad within the scope of the ERASMUS programme alone. 2012 will set the course for the next programme generation from 2014 to 2020.

Wintermantel wants to see German universities further improve their international profile and develop corresponding structures. The new president seeks to add to the DAAD’s range of programmes by including a new funding programme to support German universities in their internationalisation efforts by forming strategic operations with outstanding partners.

"Education and science are key to development measures", of this the new DAAD President is convinced. The DAAD has promoted cooperations with developing countries for many years. Wintermantel seeks to set a new accent on joint development and using knowledge that is required for solving global problems such as climate change, water scarcity, epidemics, malnutrition, or lack of integration.

DAAD grant recipients and scholarship holders, alumni, and partner universities are committed to democratisation efforts and human rights in many places around the globe. Only a few weeks ago, the DAAD put out a call for applications for new programmes for Egypt and Tunisia to support and flank the democratisation processes taking place in the Arabian world. It is also a question of offering university graduates improved job perspectives. Wintermantel is committed to continuing the difficult but rewarding work performed in the world’s crisis regions.

The DAAD’s topic for the year "A Changing Society – Change by Exchange" is aimed at motivating funded students and scientists to work together on developing solutions to social problems and seeks to make it clearer to the general public that academic exchange can contribute to bringing about societal changes.

Margret Wintermantel will remain President of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) until the end of April 2012. She studied Psychology and Journalism at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz from 1966 to 1970. She obtained a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in Psychology in 1972 and went on to become a university lecturer at the University of Heidelberg in 1986. Before being elected HRK President in March 2006, she had already been HRK Vice President for Research and Young Scientists and Researchers and from 2000 to 2006 President of Saarland University. She also has a seat on many national and international bodies.