After celebrating its 25th anniversary last year, the DAAD’s “Development-Related Postgraduate Courses” programme has gotten an update. To ensure the programme’s appeal and effectiveness over the next decade, a wide range of innovative ideas were discussed and developed together with degree programme representatives, scholarship holders and the many participants of the Millennium Express workshop series.
New concept
The updated programme concept emphasizes the following:
- Even stronger focus on sustainable development
- Greater emphasis on meta-disciplinary competencies and qualifications
- Increased support for networking activities for the degree programmes and their scholarship holders
- Increase competition by limiting the number of new intakes to eight per year. Scholarship holders can re-apply for funding.
Development remains the central focus of the programme, as reflected by the programme’s new title: “Development-Related Postgraduate Courses. Educating Professionals for Sustainable Development”. The name already adorns the recently published programme brochure for the 2014/15 academic year.
New application round
With the new brochure now distributed worldwide, the next application round has begun. The brochure contains brief descriptions of all of the funded Master’s degree programmes. For additional information on the application process, interested professionals from developing and emerging countries you can access the DAAD website.
To maintain a healthy combination of theory and hands-on practice, degree programmes will receive greater funding to finance tutors and additional instructional support for students. The added funding will also enable more field trips to international companies, development organizations and professional conferences. The degree programmes are encouraged to collaborate more together – especially on an interdisciplinary level – and to network more.
In the spirit of networking, DAAD is inviting scholarship holder representatives from all degree programmes to its annual networking event on April 29th and 30th in Bonn. Among the event’s focal points is how to connect degree programme activities with Millennium Express activities in a way that is effective and adds value.
Focus on development policy – Outlook
DAAD’s Development Cooperation working group is hosting a large development policy conference entitled “Change Agents – The Faces of Change” on June 18, 2013 at Heidelberg University in Germany. Along with prominent guests such as Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel and DAAD President Prof. Dr. Margret Wintermantel, conference attendees will include numerous scholarship holders and alumni as well as postgraduate degree programme heads.
