100 Years DAAD – 100 Years Change by Exchange

In 1925, the DAAD was founded as a student initiative to enable students at German universities to spend time abroad. Today, 100 years later, the DAAD, as an association of German universities and their student bodies, is the world's largest organisation for the promotion of international academic exchange.

The DAAD celebrated the highlight of its anniversary year with a festive ceremony at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin on 6 May 2025. Around 500 guests from academia, politics and society, including numerous DAAD alumni, came together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the world's largest organisation for international academic exchange.

Speech by the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
© DAAD/Außerhofer

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivered his speech by video to mark the occasion. He emphasised the role of the DAAD as a ‘door opener in foreign science policy’. Steinmeier paid particular tribute to the DAAD's commitment to academics in distress: ‘Time and again, the DAAD has been active precisely where academics can no longer work independently, where they are threatened with persecution, where they are disenfranchised and deprived of their freedom.’ In times of increasing authoritarian tendencies and anti-science movements, the work of the DAAD is indispensable.

Speech by DAAD President Dr Joybrato Mukherjee
© DAAD/Außerhofer

In his speech, DAAD President Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee emphasised the responsibility of science in a changing world. The ceremony was not only a moment to look back, but also a call to actively shape the future: ‘In a world in upheaval, it is important to take planetary responsibility and to vigorously utilise and shape all opportunities for exchange and cooperation.’ Mukherjee recalled the founding of the DAAD in Heidelberg in 1925 with US support and the new beginning after the National Socialist tyranny. He traced its development into the world's largest funding organisation for international academic exchange and paid tribute to the vision of co-founder Carl Joachim Friedrich, who saw exchange as a path to understanding and excellence.

After the speeches by the Federal President and the DAAD President, Dr Ralf Beste (DAAD alumnus and Head of Department at the Federal Foreign Office), Jana Nguyenová (DAAD scholarship holder at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) and Sherif Rizkallah (DAAD alumnus, TV journalist and presenter) discussed the importance of international academic exchange in a panel discussion moderated by DAAD Secretary General Dr Kai Sicks - with a view to the present and the future. The discussion made it clear how formative and groundbreaking international educational experiences can be - for individual biographies  as well as for global academic dialogue.

The entire ACA team warmly congratulates the DAAD — a founding member of ACA and a steadfast champion of academic exchange in Europe and worldwide — on this remarkable anniversary. We wish the DAAD continued success and many more centuries of visionary, impactful work.