DAAD Secures Increased Funding for 2024 to Foster International Academic Exchange and Support Skilled Labor Initiative

DAAD Secures Increased Funding for 2024 to Foster International Academic Exchange and Support Skilled Labor Initiative

(IN BRIEF) The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has secured additional funding of almost three million euros for the year 2024, exceeding the original draft budget allocation. The budget increase, following final negotiations on the 2024 federal budget, will provide solid financial support for the DAAD’s mission of promoting international academic exchange and global scientific cooperation. The organization’s core funding, provided by the Federal Foreign Office, will rise from the planned 215.3 million to 218.1 million euros for 2024, marking nearly three percent annual growth since 2021. Furthermore, the DAAD will receive additional funding for a skilled labor initiative until 2026 and support for programs aimed at aiding Ukraine. These budget adjustments demonstrate strong support for the DAAD’s foreign science policy mission and its commitment to international collaboration in challenging geopolitical times.

(PRESS RELEASE) BONN, 18-Nov-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) will receive almost three million euros more basic funding for the coming year than originally planned in the draft budget of the federal government. In addition, funding has been secured for a skilled labour initiative and further support for Ukraine. The budget increase is the result of the final negotiations on the 2024 federal budget.

“Following the budget adjustment meeting of the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag, it is clear that the DAAD will be able to continue its work in 2024 on a sound financial basis,” said DAAD President Prof Dr Joybrato Mukherjee. “The almost three million euros in additional funding that the Budget Committee has allocated to our core funding demonstrates the great appreciation of the members of the German Bundestag for international academic exchange and global scientific cooperation in geopolitically challenging times. The budget legislator has thus made it possible for the pledge contained in the coalition agreement of an annual three per cent increase in our basic funding to be approximately met on average in the years 2022-2024. We are extremely grateful to the German Bundestag and the Federal Foreign Office for this support in view of the challenging budgetary environment.”

The basic funding of the DAAD by the Federal Foreign Office, the so-called “institutional funding”, will increase from the planned 215.3 million to 218.1 million euros following the decisions of the Budget Committee for 2024. The basic funding of the world’s largest organisation for scientific exchange has thus grown by almost three per cent per year since 2021, if special programmes are not taken into account. “This decision is also a commitment to the DAAD’s foreign science policy mission and sends an important signal of reliability to our member universities and student bodies as well as to our partner institutions around the world,” continued Mukherjee.

The DAAD will receive a further three million euros per year until 2026 from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a new skilled labour initiative. The total funding from the BMBF will therefore increase from the planned 180 million to 183 million euros for 2024. This also includes funding for the continuation of the BMBF programmes to support Ukraine. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will support the work of the DAAD with around fifty-seven million euros in 2024. The European Commission will also provide at least 216 million euros for the Erasmus programme.

The DAAD assumes that the German Bundestag will approve the federal budget in the revised version on 1 December.

Media Contact:

Michael Flacke
Head of Press Office / Press Officer – SB03
DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service
+49 228 882-454
presse@daad.de

SOURCE: DAAD