At the end of September, Dr Christian Bode, DAAD Secretary General for the last 20 years, handed over the helm of the world’s largest scholarship organisation to Dorothea Rüland.

Born in Cottbus in 1942, Christian Bode, a lawyer, started his career in the Federal Ministry of Education in 1972, where he headed the Planning Group. Ten years later, he became the Secretary General of the (then) West German Rectors’ Conference, moving to DAAD in August 1990. During his term, DAAD developed impressively. The number of DAAD scholarship holders almost doubled, to 67 000 annually. He also widened DAAD’s scope of activities considerably, from an organisation primarily focused on the exchange of students and academics to one which also promoted internationalisation more broadly, encompassing such areas as curricular development, the marketing of German higher education, and the creation of German universities worldwide, amongst other concerns. He successfully steered DAAD through the unification of his country and he was a tireless supporter of European cooperation in higher education. ACA owes him a lot, not least the initiative which led to its birth in 1993. At a celebration in Berlin’s Französicher Dom on 28 September, distinguished speakers from around the world paid homage to Christian Bode’s great achievements. Germany’s Foreign Secretary, Guido Westerwelle, rightly stressed that he “made a lasting contribution” to his country. We could not agree more – and we thank Christian Bode very warmly.

DAAD’s new Secretary General, Dorothea Rüland, is no stranger to the organisation. She was one of DAAD’s Deputy Secretary Generals (2004-2008), after holding other important posts in the organisation’s headquarters and in its branch office in Jakarta. In the last two years, Dorothea Rüland was the Director of the International Centre at the Free University in Berlin. She has ample international experience, and she is well networked across the globe. With Dorothea Rüland, DAAD can be confident of making further strides ahead in the years to come. ACA wishes her every success.