German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the world's largest funding organization for the international exchange of students and scholars. It emerged from a student initiative and was founded in 1925. Supported by German universities and their students, 242 universities and 104 student councils were registered members in 2019.

The DAAD is mainly funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. Other sponsors are foreign governments, companies, foundations and the “Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft”. The DAAD's head office is located in Bonn, and the DAAD also maintains an office in Berlin, to which the renowned Berliner Künstlerprogramm is affiliated. A network of 69 foreign offices and around 430 lectorships worldwide maintains contact with the most important partner countries on all continents and provides local advice.

As one of the three founding organisations of the Carlo Schmid Program, the DAAD has supported the program in many ways since its foundation in 2001. The DAAD supervises the newly selected CSP scholarship holders as well as the returnees as preparation and follow-up of the internship period abroad.