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EDUCATION & KNOWLEDGE
TOPIC
RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC RELATIONS POLICY
Academic exchange is a pillar of interna-
New Delhi, New York, São Paulo and Tokyo,
tional cultural and educational policy. In its
as well as the German Science Centre (DWZ)
implementation, key partners of the Federal
in Cairo promote scientific collaboration
Foreign Office are the German Academic
with Germany. They regard themselves as
Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander
showcases for Germany as a research and
von Humboldt Foundation, the German
innovation location, and pool information
Archaeological Institute (DAI) along with the
and the existing structures of German re-
foundations of the political parties with an
search institutions in these countries. For
international focus. In 2009, in his first term
this reason they are the first point of con-
of office, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-
tact for all academics interested in collab-
Walter Steinmeier launched the Research
orating with Germany.
and Academic Relations Initiative. Its aim:
to buttress tried-and-tested methods and
Furthermore, since 2010 the German Aca-
expand them to include new strategies. It
demic Exchange Service has funded the
has already inspired countless new ideas in
work of four new Centres of Excellence in
exchange; and consciously supports further
Russia, Thailand, Chile, and Columbia:
networking around the globe.
these network hundreds of international
scientists with German research and train
Worldwide, five German Houses of Re-
young academics to the highest standards.
search and Innovation (DWIH) in Moscow,
In each case they are conceived as collaborations in research and teaching between a
German higher education institution and
one or several foreign partner institutes.
NUMBER
177 million
euros was the amount the Federal Foreign Office contributed to the budget of
the German Academic Exchange Service
(DAAD) in 2014. This is the biggest individual item, accounting for 40 percent
in total. The funds are used to run a wide
range of foreign cultural and education
policy projects and programmes.
Academic cooperation with
crisis and conflict regions
A major focal point of the research and academic relations policy is cooperation with
academics and higher education institutions in crisis and conflict regions, as well as
in transition countries. With this complex
commitment there are hopes that cooperation in research and higher education can