German Studies

Anyone who learns German has an open access to Germany, its culture and to the outstanding location for science and career it is. With proficiency in the German language, a 'Germany competence' is connected, which often also represents a decisive factor for career and market opportunities. In addition, knowledge of the German language and culture promotes social and academic integration during study and research stays in Germany.

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DAAD and German Studies

Learning German opens numerous opportunities not just in Germany but also in your home country. There are many reasons for learning and studying the German language: better career prospects, a desired study or research stay in Germany, as well as cultural, political or economic interests. The promotion of German studies and the German language abroad is a priority area for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Read on to find out the many activities, events, scholarship programmes and DAAD team involved in the field of German language and studies.

Fact-Finding-Mission: DAAD Lectorates in India 2025

23 -29 April 2025

At the behest of the German Federal Foreign Office, a fact-finding mission to explore and evaluate possibilities for expanding the network of lecturers at Indian higher education institutions was organised from 23 – 29 April 2025. The mission was led by a delegation from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Bonn and the team from DAAD Regional Office New Delhi.

Visit to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi© DAAD

To this end, discussions and strategic meetings were held with government officials at University Grants Commission (UGC), German institutions in India (in particular the Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy, New Delhi and the Consulate General, Kolkata) as well as with various HEIs in Delhi, Varanasi and Kolkata. This endeavour marked a significant step forward in identifying possible institutions for establishment of specialist lectureship in German Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities at various universities in India.

At the German Consulate Kolkata© German Consulate Kolkata

The experts engaged in productive dialogues with policymakers and strategic partners, visited universities and institutions like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, Jadavpur University, Indian Institute of Management and Sister Nivedita University in Kolkata.

This mission has not only laid the foundation for strengthened bilateral ties but also affirmed the mutual interest in fostering Indo-German academic cooperation and scientific exchange in the fields of German Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities.

As part of the mission, DAAD celebrated 65 years of DAAD in India and 100 years of DAAD regionally by organising a networking event for its alumni, recent scholarship awardees and trusted partners in Kolkata. The event was organised together with the German Consulate and the Goethe-Institut, Kolkata on the evening of 28 April 2025. The gathering provided an excellent opportunity for meaningful networking within the region, fostering stronger relationships and opening doors for future collaboration.

Symposium for Young Researchers

Jointly organised by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies and ICAS:MP Metamorphosis of the Political, the Early Career Research symposium offers a platform for young researchers to showcase their work in the overarching subject of Cross-Border Mobility. The symposium addresses students of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Find out more on www.daad.in/ecr

DAAD Funding Programmes

The DAAD offers numerous funding programmes across all subject fields – for individuals as well as for higher education institutions.

Here you see a selection of special programmes limited to the field of German Studies. Students and scholars of this field are of course welcome to apply for research grants for doctoral programmes in Germany, for bi-nationally supervised doctoral degrees etc.
Click here for more information.

University Summer Courses / Hochschulsommerkurs (HSK)

Individual Funding

This programme aims to help students and graduates improve their knowledge of German (general language, special language) and their cultural knowledge of the country. The programme funds specific courses (taught exclusively in German) which are offered by state or state-recognised German universities and affiliated language schools.

Institutional Funding

The German Language, Literature and Culture: Institutional Partnerships Worldwide (GIP) programme uses Federal Foreign Office funds to promote cooperation between institutes that offer German studies and/or German as a foreign language at German higher education institutions and at their partner institutes abroad. It supports the relevant departments at foreign universities in the continuous modernization of their curricula, in the qualification of their junior staff and in their international networking and helps to further develop attractive offers that strengthen interest in the German language and in Germany in the university context.

HSK helped me a lot to improve my language skills and also to gain confidence with communication. I made a lot of friends and shared thoughts about culture!

Isha Bajaj, Doon University

Online Resources for Teachers - Dhoch3

The Dhoch3 program supports the education of future teachers of German at higher education institutions abroad with online study modules. The ten modules that it offers deal with different topics in the subject area ‘German as a Foreign Language (GFL/DaF)’. These are available on the online learning platform Moodle free of charge for teachers. Dhoch3 creates an additional range of materials and literature that can be integrated into existing courses and at the same time gives an impulse for the development of new courses.

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DAAD Lecturers

The DAAD appoints Lecturers at foreign universities to teach and promote German studies abroad. They also support with various DAAD activities like scholarship counseling and disseminating information about study and research in Germany. Their jobs are as varied as they are diverse!

…DAAD Lecturers

Dr Michael Stadler (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

Dr Michael Stadler has joined the Centre for German Studies of JNU as a DAAD Lecturer in January 2022. Until 2021, he worked as an academic employee at Tübingen University’s newly founded ‘College of Fellows’ and from 2019 – 2020, he worked in the context of Robert Bosch Foundation’s Lectureship Program in Asia as a German Lecturer in China (Sichuan). Stadler received his BA degrees in Philosophy and Cultural Studies from Radboud University Nijmegen, his Erasmus Mundus MA degree in philosophy from the Universities of Toulouse, Luxembourg, Memphis (TN) and Prague, and his PhD degree in Philosophy from the Universities of Vienna and Ferrara.

Dr Christina Rath (Savitribai Phule Pune University)

Dr Christina Rath joined the Department of Foreign Languages of the SPPU as DAAD lecturer in August 2021. She pursued her PhD in Linguistics at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne. Her PhD study followed Syrian Arabic learners of German in the second language context and aimed at getting a better understanding of the development of pragmatic competence in the second language. The project reflects her current research interests in Second Language Acquisition, Interlanguage Pragmatics (in particular acquisitional pragmatics), Intercultural Communication and Linguistic Politeness. Before her time in Pune / India, she had been teaching at the University of Cologne and the University of Adelaide (Australia).