The DAAD uses funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to support higher education partnerships (HEIs) in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-relevant subject areas that contribute to sustainable development in line with the SDGs and to the development of high-performance and globally minded HEIs in the partner countries and in Germany.

The programme has two funding lines, one open to all disciplines and a second funding line that addresses topics arising from current political and social discourse. Previous topics have focussed on the areas of non-health, health with a focus on pandemic prevention and control, biodiversity and restoration of ecosystems, and currently climate change, including energy transition - mitigation - environment education.

As part of the funding, teaching, research and university management are to be structurally strengthened at the partner institutions and study programmes in areas of particular importance for sustainable development are to be developed and expanded.

Background

The increase and intensification of global challenges, in particular in view of the future, give rise to greater demand for a concentration of resources, promotion of system efficiency, inter-disciplinary cooperation and broad-scale use of tried-and-tested education and collaboration models. 

Reaching the SDGs is an urgent objective that is relevant to all of humankind, and global cooperation is the only way to move closer to this goal. This is why the ‘SDG Partnerships’ programme focuses on the challenges listed above, and is designed to contribute to sustainable development and therefore to reaching the SDGs.
Higher education institutions play a key role in this context. The programme was initiated by the DAAD to enable German higher education institutions and their partner institutions in developing or emerging countries to address topics that are relevant to the SDGs.

Programme objectives

In the short and medium term, the programme aims to structurally strengthen teaching, research and higher education management at the partner HEIs and to strengthen existing cooperation structures between the participating HEIs and establish new ones on a sustainable footing.

In the long term, the SDG partnerships aim to contribute to sustainable development and the establishment of high-performance and globally-minded universities in the partner countries and in Germany. In addition, German HEIs are to acquire expertise in development cooperation and professional networks relevant to development are to be established between the participating HEIs and institutions.

The aim is to achieve impact in all SDG-relevant areas. Depending on what the current challenges are, special attention will be paid to specific focus areas.
 

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