Development co-operation

1925

The "Akademischer Austauschdienst e.V." (Academic Exchange Service) is founded in Heidelberg on 1 January. The student Carl Joachim Friedrich provides the initiative for this move when he succeeds in acquiring scholarships from the New York Institute of International Education (IIE) for 13 German students reading social and political sciences. Exchange activities focus at first on German-US student exchange in these subjects. October of the same year sees the young organisation move its registered office to Berlin, where it is henceforth responsible for arranging student and academic exchange for all disciplines.

1933

The "Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst e.V." - bearing this name as a registered association since 1931 - maintains relations with ten countries involving a total of 110 exchange scholarships. Exchange activities continue to focus on the United States. Between 1923 and 1937 nine branches of the exchange service are established in Europe.

1934

The head of the DAAD, Adolf Morsbach, is arrested, following the political Gleichschaltung of the DAAD Presiding Committee a year earlier which compulsorily aligned all activities to Nazi doctrine. After spending two months in prison, Morsbach never returns to the DAAD; increasing political monopolisation of the DAAD occurs at the hand of the state authorities.

1943

All the files of the DAAD are destroyed in the night of bombing on 23 November. The exchange service ceases its activities.

1950

Following the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the process of academic exchange is also revived. At the suggestion of the British, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst is formally refounded on 5 August. In the first year, the service has a budget of 7000 marks. A handful of staff commence their work in Bonn. Their work mainly involves the provision of foreign currency for academic stays abroad, the first scholarships for foreigners coming to West Germany to study, scholarships for Germans going abroad, and the exchange of practical interns/student trainees.

1951

Following the reopening of the German embassy in Britain (1955), the DAAD sets up its regional office in London, beginning professorial exchange with Britain.

1958

The amendment of the statutes means that members of the DAAD are no longer individual persons, but rather the higher education institutions and student bodies. The DAAD's legal status remains that of a registered association. Its budgetary resources mainly come from the government and amount to DM 7.5 million. Total number of people receiving support: 1,231, of which 1,078 are foreigners and 153 are Germans.

1960

The DAAD's Cairo and New Delhi Regional Offices are opened.

1962

The DAAD offers its first scholarships to African students beginning their studies at higher education institutions in countries of Africa (so-called Sur-Place-Scholarships). The staff of the DAAD move into a dedicated building in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Kennedyallee 50. The DAAD opens its regional office in Paris.

1964

The new DAAD office in Berlin takes on a programme previously funded and managed by the Ford Foundation, the so-called "Artists in Residence" programme, which even today - under the name of "Berliner Künstlerprogramm" (Artists in Berlin) - enables artists from all around the world to complete a stay in Berlin.

1965

This year marks the first time that the DAAD invites its foreign alumni to a post-scholarship follow-up contact seminar. A practice that has continued ever since. Meetings are held in Britain, India, Japan and Thailand.

1966

420 professors and lecturers from Central and Eastern Europe accept an invitation from the DAAD to visit Germany on study visits. The DAAD budget is DM 34 million, with 18 countries participating in the professorial exchange programme, and 233 Lektors on assignment abroad.

1970

The DAAD starts the series of bilateral and multinational meetings of German studies experts with a first meeting in Brighton, England, a programme that continues to this very day.

1971

The DAAD has regional offices in New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Nairobi.

1975

The budget is DM 87.7 million, with 188 staff. Total number of people receiving support: 13,180, of which 8,982 are foreigners and 4,288 are Germans; 120 long-term and 77 short-term lecturers placed on assignments. The DAAD decides to gradually incorporate Fachhochschule institutions into the support programmes.

1978

The DAAD regional office in Tokyo opens. Exchange activities with China are intensified.

1980

The beginning of the year sees the DAAD publish its first issue of DAAD Letter, the follow-up contact magazine with which it continues to provide its former scholarship holders abroad with information about Germany.

1985

The DAAD San José, Costa Rica office is opened. The DAAD has a budget of DM 170.1 million. Total number of people receiving support: 23,180, of which 14,834 are foreigners and 8,346 are Germans. 1986 marks the first time that DAAD Lektors are placed at higher education institutions in the Soviet Union; subsequent years see other Socialist countries follow.

1987

Fachhochschule institutions become members of the DAAD. At the same time, the DAAD becomes the German national agency for the European Community higher education programmes. The year also witnesses the start of a new scholarship programme for graduates from developing countries. They attend postgraduate degree courses in Germany whose topics are of relevance to developing countries.

1989

The DAAD extends its support programmes to cover the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. German-German exchange programmes are arranged with East Germany.

1990

Following reunification, the DAAD takes on the East German scholarship programmes, meaning an additional 10,035 scholarship holders. The DAAD is now responsible for all German higher education institutions. The budget rises to DM 263.2 million. Total number of people receiving support: 38,883, of which 21,974 are foreigners and 16,909 are Germans.

1991

The budget amounts to DM 340.4 million with a staff of 380 in Bonn plus 31 in the Berlin-Mitte Office. 40,380 people receive support, of whom 18,660 are foreigners and 21,720 are Germans, plus, 10,810 persons taken on from East German programmes = 51,190 persons in total. The higher education institutions and student bodies in eastern Germany become members of the DAAD. The DAAD opens a regional office in Jakarta.

1993

The DAAD opens its regional office in Moscow, followed a year later by a regional office in Peking.

1997

The DAAD begins with the implementation of a comprehensive Action Programme encompassing a range of 30 measures with which the international appeal of Germany as an academic and scientific base is to be increased. These measures include international degree programmes, the promotion of partnerships with higher education institutions in the Third World, longer-term guest lectureships by foreign professors at Germany's higher education institutions. In view of the ever-increasing requirements which academic exchange is expected to meet and the simultaneous restrictions on funding, the DAAD launches several programmes funded with donations from German business and industry. The DAAD opens a regional office in Warsaw. Around the world in nine countries, from Australia to the United States, the DAAD's foreign alumni get together for the DAAD seminars. The DAAD also begins to use the Internet to provide information on its support programmes.

1999

The DAAD budget is DM 422.3 million, and 462 DAAD staff organise exchange programmes for more than 60,000 scholarship holders. Of these, just under 26,000 are foreigners and just over 34,000 Germans (including EU scholarship holders). Women take a 44% share of scholarship holders across all DAAD programmes. Some 500 DAAD Lektors are on teaching assignments around the world. The DAAD is represented abroad through its 13 regional offices. The DAAD takes on the important role of international higher education marketing and presents its information and advice at more than 40 trade fairs and exhibitions worldwide. The number of former Alumni Associations established by DAAD scholarship holders around the globe increases to 113.