Former DAAD President is awarded an Order of Merit

An honour for Margret Wintermantel

Professor Dr Margret Wintermantel, President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from 2012 to 2019, has today (3 November) received the Great Cross of Merit from the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. This cross is awarded by the German Federal President; Minister of State Michelle Müntefering made the presentation. The DAAD and the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt – AA) congratulated her on the award.

Margret Wintermantel mit Verdienstorden ausgezeichnet

‘Margret Wintermantel has sustainably shaped the higher education system in Germany and Europe during her long career in academia and academic management. I am therefore very pleased that her tireless work and her multifaceted commitment have been honoured with the Great Cross of Merit. The DAAD is especially grateful to her for her success with the internationalisation of German higher education institutions’, said DAAD President Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee.

‘Professor Wintermantel’s involvement has strengthened international academic exchange, in particular due to her commitment to academic freedom. She has therefore contributed to Germany’s reputation as an international location for study and academia. As DAAD President, she significantly promoted the expansion of academic diplomacy and thus assisted in positioning international cultural and educational policy for the future. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to be able to present her with the Great Cross of Merit in recognition of her services’, said Michelle Müntefering, Minister of State for International Cultural Policy in the Federal Foreign Office, on the occasion of the award ceremony.

This is now the second Federal Order of Merit for Margret Wintermantel; she received the First Class Distinguished Service Cross in 2009. The social psychologist and academic manager began her career at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, where she studied Psychology and Journalism from 1966 until 1970. She was awarded a doctorate in psychology in 1972, having habilitated in the same subject at Heidelberg University in 1986. In 1992 she assumed a professorship at Saarland University and headed the university as its president from 2000 to 2006. After this post in Saarland she went to North Rhine-Westphalia and from 2006 to 2012 she presided over the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – HRK). In 2012 she also took over as President of the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD). In 2015 a large majority of the DAAD General Assembly reselected her for a second term of office until the end of 2019.

Margret Wintermantel continues to be active in numerous academic bodies, including as Chair of the University Council at Saarland University.

DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst - German Academic Exchange Service