A master's degree program is often a great challenge for refugees from African countries - but it can also be a great opportunity. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is therefore launching the scholarship program "Leadership for Africa" to enable young talents from countries with high numbers of refugees to pursue a master's degree in Germany. Funded by the Federal Foreign Office (FFO), refugees and prospective students from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan can initially participate. The FFO supports the programme with around 2.5 million euros per year.

The funding earmarked for education and research in the new seven-year EU financial framework and the “Next Generation EU” coronavirus recovery plan have thus far failed to meet expectations and future requirements in the view of the DAAD, DFG and HRK. The three science organisations therefore welcome the EU Parliament’s cross-party call for improvements to ensure more innovation and successful crisis management. DFG President Prof Dr Katja Becker, HRK President Prof Dr Peter-André Alt and DAAD President Prof Dr Joybrato Mukherjee urge that the programmes “Horizon Europe” and “Erasmus+” should be given a better financial structure in order to secure and strengthen Europe as a research location in the long term.

German students in the USA are facing an uncertain future due to the new visa rules in the coronavirus crisis. The US immigration agency ICE had announced last week that foreign students who were participating exclusively in online courses at an American university would have to leave the country – or face deportation. The Presidents of the HRK and DAAD have sounded a warning about the consequences.

The impact of COVID-19 has been clearly felt at German universities in teaching and also in international student mobility. A recent survey of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on the pandemic impact on German universities shows: As expected, worldwide travel restrictions have had a strong impact on exchange, but digitalisation measures have been successfully implemented by almost all universities. Unlike in the USA, it was also possible to largely avoid dormitory closures.