German universities on internationalisation path

The new president of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Prof. Margret Wintermantel, plans to give an additional boost to the international attractivness of German universities. Those institutions that are prepared to develop new internationally oriented study programmes and, therefore, are particularly successful in attracting foreign students will be provided with additional funds.

Wintermantel seeks to further increase the number of international students in Germany from the current number of 245,000 to 300,000 by the end of the decade. "Winning over foreign students is how we will make friends and partners for the future. What is more, if we fail to increase the number of international students in Germany, we will be unable to maintain our academic system’s excellence in light of demographic changes." The DAAD President pointed out that to attract the best students to Germany would also require making university admissions more straightforward and more flexible and better oriented towards the students’ individual qualifications.

Prof. Margret Wintermantel is former president of Saarland University, one of Germany’s most internationalised institutions of higher education.

Chris
germanstudycentre@gmail.com

(Source: http://www.daad.de/portrait/presse/pressemitteilungen/2012/19484.en.html)