The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports the “Higher Education Dialogue with the Muslim World” programme with over 50 potential partner countries using funds provided by the German Federal Foreign Office. 

According to the motto ‘Dialogue through Cooperation’, the Higher Education Dialogue Programme focuses on cultural dialogue of German universities with partners in the Muslim world, which is to be stimulated and sustainably strengthened through professional cooperation based on a common academic interest. The programme is open to all disciplines.

Background

Since 2006, the Higher Education Dialogue Programme has been funding cooperation projects between German higher education institutions and their partner institutions in the Muslim world - based on the experience that cooperation in partnership, supported by common scientific interests, is a stable basis for cultural dialogue. In 2012, the programme, formerly known as ‘German-Arab/Iranian University Dialogue’, was expanded to include cooperations with all non-European member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Programme objectives

The main goal of the Higher Education Dialogue Programme is to promote cultural dialogue and intercultural understanding, without neglecting the professional goals, which can be measured by the proven quality criteria of teaching and research.

• Curricula/teaching modules/courses offered by the partner universities and which correspond to the local context as well as to the state of the art in science
• Further qualification of students and (junior) academics within the framework of professional and methodological cooperation and acquisition of intercultural competences
• Establishment of regional teaching and research networks with universities from one or more partner countries
• Networking of partner universities with non-university stakeholders in the region and/or Germany

In the long term the Higher Education Dialogue Programme contributes to: 

• strengthening intercultural dialogue between universities in Germany and the Muslim world
• the sustainable strengthening of the quality of research and teaching at the partner universities
• the sustainable networking of universities and non-university stakeholders in the target regions and with Germany

The target groups (from Germany and the partner countries) are:

• University lecturers
• (Junior) academics
• Doctoral candidates
• Graduates and students
• Non-university stakeholders (if particularly relevant to the project)

Funded by