Montreal, QC — DAAD and Mitacs, a Canadian not-for-profit research and training organization, have signed a letter of intent with a view of establishing a new student internship exchange between Canada and Germany. The partnership will provide internships to up to 50 undergraduate students from each country per year to pursue research projects in the other country, starting in 2016.
The new initiative will draw on both DAAD and Mitacs’ considerable experience running successful international research internship programs. It aims to build on the already substantial academic exchange that takes place between Canada and Germany.
The agreement was signed in Montreal on April 29 by Dr. Dorothea Rüland, Secretary General of DAAD, and Dr. Alejandro Adem, Mitacs CEO and Scientific Director.
Quotes:
Alejandro Adem, Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, Mitacs
“By formalizing this partnership between Canada and Germany, we will encourage the exchange of research knowledge and innovation between our two countries. The agreement with DAAD will provide new opportunities for Canadian faculty and universities to benefit from students’ international perspectives, while demonstrating the scope of hands-on Canadian research opportunities available.”
Dorothea Rüland, Secretary General, DAAD
“In order to understand how we should address the global threats of climate change, poverty, epidemics and energy shortages, we need to create international collaborations throughout the world. DAAD welcomes this new program as an excellent opportunity for its student participants and a way to strengthen the ties between universities and researchers in both countries.”
Mitacs quick facts:
- Mitacs Globalink is a key element of the International Education Strategy, which was launched by Minister of International Trade Ed Fast on January 15, 2014.
- Since 2009, Mitacs has matched over 1,000 international senior undergraduates with Canadian faculty through its Globalink initiative.
- To further strengthen international research collaborations, Mitacs Globalink currently offers two-way mobility opportunities between Canada and partner countries — China, Brazil, France, India, Mexico, Turkey, Vietnam, and Tunisia— for undergraduate and graduate students.
- Within Canada, Mitacs has worked with 60 universities, over 6,000 companies, and federal and provincial governments, building partnerships that support industrial and social innovation.
DAAD quick facts:
- The DAAD is Germany’s national organization for academic exchange. It promotes international academic cooperation through a variety of mobility programs that bring international students and faculty to Germany for study and research and send German scholars out to the academic settings around the world for similar activity.
- The DAAD is the largest organization of its kind in the world. In 2013, DAAD programs moved more than 120,000 scholars worldwide and the organization’s budget was €430 million ($565 million). The largest portion of the DAAD operating budget is provided by the German Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2014, 302 Canadians received DAAD funding to study or do research in Germany — and 997 German scholars came to Canada with DAAD scholarships or grants.
- DAAD’s Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program was founded in 2005 and is among the organization’s most successful and popular mobility programs. It funds exceptional bachelor-level students who have been selected to carry out research work in the labs of professors or doctoral candidates both in Germany and around the world.
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