The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the largest funding organisation in the world supporting the international exchange of students and scholars. Since 1925, more than 1.5 million scholars in Germany and abroad have received DAAD funding.
With German institutions of higher education and student bodies, its activities go far beyond awarding grants and scholarships. The DAAD supports the internationalisation of German universities, promotes German studies and the German language abroad, runs initiatives for universities in developing countries and advises decision makers on matters of cultural, education and development policy.Its budget 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 enterprises, organisations and foreign governments. The DAAD’s programmes have the following five strategic goals: - to encourage outstanding young students and academics from abroad to come to Germany for study and research visits and to maintain contact with them as partners - to qualify young German researchers and professionals at the very best institutions around the world in a spirit of tolerance and openness - to promote the internationality and appeal of Germany’s institutions of higher education - to support German language, literature and cultural studies at foreign universities - to assist developing countries in the southern hemisphere and reforming countries in the former Eastern Bloc in the establishment of effective higher education The DAAD head office is located in Bonn, Germany. It has regional offices and information centres in various partner countries. The DAAD Regional Office in New Delhi office, established in 1960, promotes academic exchange between Germany and India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It provides information about education in Germany, grants scholarships to students, invites scientists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to Germany as well as those from Germany to these countries, and supports bilateral research projects. The DAAD network in the region includes Information Centers in Chennai and Pune, Information Points in Bangalore, Mumbai and Dhaka, DAAD Lecturers and Language Assistants at selected universities and institutions in India, DAAD Young Ambassadors, DAAD Research Ambassadors, numerous alumni clubs with over 5000 former scholarship holders. The DAAD Regional Office New Delhi has close ties with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Education , Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), University Grants Commission (UGC), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) among others. It is a part of the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH) - New Delhi. To learn more about the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) India, click here: www.daaddelhi.org
