German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

The DAAD is the largest funding organisation in the world supporting the international exchange of students and scholars. Since it was founded in 1925, more than 2 million scholars in Germany and abroad have received DAAD funding. It is a registered association and its members are German institutions of higher education and student bodies. In addition to awarding grants and scholarships, it supports the internationalisation of German universities, promotes German studies and the German language abroad, assists developing countries in establishing effective universities and advises decision-makers on matters of cultural, education and development policy.

Its budget (approx. €470 million in 2015) is derived mainly from the federal funding for various ministries, primarily the German Federal Foreign Office, but also from the European Union and a number of other enterprises, organisations and foreign governments. The DAAD runs over 250 programmes, through which it funds more than 74,000 German and foreign scholars worldwide each year.