DAAD scholarship holder Amel Karboul began her career in mechanical engineering, and has worked as a management consultant and politician. Today, she heads the international Education Outcomes Fund. In this interview, she explains how international mobility shapes people’s life paths, why education is a crucial economic factor, and how artificial intelligence could change the role of education.

Dr Karboul, you came to Germany from Tunisia in 1991 as a DAAD scholarship holder. You began by studying German for a year at the University of Heidelberg, before going on to study mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think back on that time?

A sense of freedom. When I arrived in Heidelberg, I was 18; I met lots of new people and often went to the cinema. Back then, I had deliberately chosen a country that was completely different from my homeland.

What were your first experiences in Germany?

In Heidelberg, I was looking for a part-time job as a waitress and was turned down everywhere because my language skills weren’t perfect yet. Only Pizza Hut hired me anyway. The boss was from the USA. This experience of feeling like an outsider was new to me and made me more aware of the rights of minorities. In Tunisia, as part of the majority, I was never confronted with racism. There, I grew up with the conviction that I had the right to exist and to be successful.

How has the DAAD scholarship shaped your academic and professional career?

In Karlsruhe, we were at the forefront of global research. That was a wonderful experience. However, what influenced my path far more was the decision to go abroad, to step out of my comfort zone. I began to question things I had taken for granted and realised that there are many truths.

Your career path took you into management consultancy and politics. In 2014, you became Tunisia’s first female Minister for Tourism. Four years later, you founded the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF). How did education become your main area of work?

There was a key moment. At the start of the summer season, the Tunisian Minister of the Interior presented his counter-terrorism strategy. The plan was to show images of potential threats as well. By then, I’d been living in the West for a long time and had the usual stereotypes in my mind. I fully expected to see middle-aged men with beards.

What did you see instead?

The images showed 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds who looked just like my own children. That affected me deeply. I sat alone in my official car, crying, and had just one thought: if young people see terrorism as an alternative way of life, we as a society have failed. At its core, radicalisation has nothing to do with religion, but rather with the fact that young people lack prospects and feel invisible. It was then that I felt a desire to work towards helping people find meaning in life.

What happened next?

From 2015, I worked alongside other experts on ‘The Education Commission’, which was chaired by the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This work also gave rise to the EOF, which I founded in 2018 and continue to lead to this day.

At the EOF, you fund educational projects for children and young people in six African countries. Project funding is linked to demonstrable results. Your aim is systemic change. What do you want to change?

We consistently put children and young people at the centre of our work. The EOF does not fund measures for their own sake. We only invest where there is demonstrable impact. In politics, the focus is often on spending budgets on time, rather than on achieving the best possible results. We want to change that.

What are you criticising?

Education is chronically underfunded. Sometimes I think that hardly anyone is really interested in it. The discussions surrounding AI could change that.

How is artificial intelligence changing the significance of education in the world of work and the economy?

The rapid advances raise the question of what will make humans irreplaceable in the future. Skills such as fact-checking and critical thinking are becoming important again – partly because the perspectives of social minorities are still often missing from development. At present, AI is mostly used reactively, but the aim is to shape it actively.

To what extent is education a strategic economic factor?

In future, education will be the most important prerequisite for economic success. How people deal with AI will be crucial. We need an education system that produces critical thinkers who can develop visions. Reading and writing remain fundamental to this. Massive reforms are necessary to meet these challenges.

What do you have in mind?

If I were still a politician, my top three priorities would be: expanding renewable energy, building computing capacity, and developing talent capable of working critically with AI agents. I truly believe that we can shape a better world for future generations. My daughter asked me recently whether I was fighting a losing battle. I’m under no illusion that I can change everything. But I’m convinced that every action counts.

Interview: Esther Sambale (14 August 2026)