The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will fund new programmes to attract more German students to India for study or research. This was communicated by the German Minister of Education and Research, Annette Schavan, in November 2007 on her return from India. Schavan had accompanied the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a four-day India visit. In addition to new study exchanges, joint activities for the development of new technologies have been initiated. They are meant to start a “new era” in German-Indian science cooperation.

The DAAD will receive additional EUR 4.3 million per year to manage initiatives under this new cooperation, the so-called "new passage to India", which includes the establishment of bi-national study programmes and the foundation of an Excellence Centre for Engineering and Life Sciences in Madras.

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF