German Academic Exchange Service

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The DAAD or German Academic Exchange Service (German: Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. It is a private, federally- and state-funded, self-governing national agency of the institutions of higher education in Germany, representing 365 German higher education institutions (100 universities and technical universities, 162 general universities of applied sciences, and 52 colleges of music and art) [2003]. Akin to the Fulbright Program familiar to many North American students, the DAAD itself does not offer programs of study or courses, but rather awards competitive, merit-based grants for use toward study and/or research in Germany at any of the accredited German institutions of higher education. With an annual budget of nearly 300 million Euro and supporting approximately 50,000 grantees annually (approximately 11,000 of which are on long-term scholarships), the DAAD is in fact the largest such academic grant organization worldwide.

The DAAD headquarters are in Bonn, but there are around 15 other regional offices which exist to provide information and counseling about study and research opportunities, as well as available grants, tailored to students and academics within their region; the regional branch office for North America is in New York. The New York office serves residents of the United States and Canada who are enrolled or employed full-time at an American or Canadian institution of higher education, and who would like to study or pursue research in Germany. From the perspective of this side of the exchange, the DAAD's mission is to facilitate American and Canadian students' access to the distinguished German institutions of higher education and research--from universities (Universitaeten) to universities of applied sciences (the Fachhochschule system), to colleges of music and art, to libraries and research archives, even to research institutions such as the Max Planck Institutes. To some extent, DAAD scholarships in North America might also support learning-based internships in Germany (e.g., RISE program).

The DAAD grants administered by the DAAD regional office in New York are available to students of all academic disciplines and at each academic degree level, including undergraduates, graduating undergraduates and recent graduates with a BA, Masters degree students, doctoral students, PhD candidates and postdoctoral scholars, and faculty.

The DAAD worldwide network also includes around 50 information centers (in North America, in Toronto and San Francisco), and around 450 DAAD lecturer positions.