With “My GUIDE Campus”, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is developing a new web service to accompany international prospective and current students on their way to Germany and to support German universities in attracting international talent. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with around three million euros over the next three years.

“The digitalization of academic exchange is an important future topic for the DAAD. In order to be perceived worldwide as an excellent place to study, we must constantly work on bringing together the information expectations and preparation needs of international prospective students and the requirements of German universities in the best possible way. A central platform that links existing digital offers from different universities and education providers with easy navigation holds great potential for attracting international talent and thus also for securing skilled workers in the long term,” said DAAD President Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee. 

Bundling of offers - individual support

With the new web service My GUIDE Campus, the DAAD is bundling existing information and orientation services for prospective students and combining them with offers for language and subject-related study preparation at German universities. The integration of online self-assessments and preparation opportunities for entering the German job market are also planned. This bundling will allow for individualized support tailored to the needs of international prospective students. For German universities, it also helps to improve the international visibility of their programs and of Germany as a place to study.

Using synergies 

With My GUIDE Campus, the DAAD is bringing together two initiatives that were previously developed separately: The so-called “Digital Campus” and the “My GUIDE” web portal. Launched in 2020, the My GUIDE web portal offers extensive services and information on Germany as a place to study and already has around 100,000 registered prospective students from all over the world. The Digital Campus was also launched in 2020 as a research and development project by the DAAD, the Gesellschaft für akademische Studienvorbereitung und Testentwicklung (g.a.s.t.), RWTH Aachen University, TH Lübeck, the Goethe-Institut and Kiron Open Higher Education. The aim was to develop a digital infrastructure to link various digital offers for study preparation in Germany in a web portal. 

Development work on My GUIDE Campus began in May. The first features will go live on the My GUIDE website at the end of the year.