Germany and Turkey have agreed to open a joint university in Istanbul by late 2009 to bolster cultural and political ties between the two countries. The agreement was signed on 30 May by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Education Minister Annette Schavan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. The university is planned to have faculties of law, science, economics, arts, social sciences and engineering and will establish close links with the German and the Turkish business sector. The Turkish side will provide land, buildings and infrastructure and assume the recurring costs. German contributions, financed by the Federal Ministry, will include the secondment of lecturers, the development of curricula, material for a language centre, allowances to supplement local salaries, scholarships, as well as further-training measures. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and a consortium of German universities, will be responsible for the cooperation and the German contributions.

In March of this year a group of nine German universities joined the association “Working Group Technical University Lahore” under the guidance of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Their goal is to establish a Technical University in Lahore, Pakistan modelled to the the German technical universities. The project begins in Autumn 2008 and the university is expected to be functional by the year 2010. The preparations for a Vietnamese-German University are also under way.

DAAD