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DAAD President Kunst calls for cosmopolitan education: “International experience is vital to survival in times of globalisation!”

05 July 2010 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)

On the 1st July, Professor Dr.-Eng. Dr. Sabine Kunst assumed office as President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The DAAD Members' Meeting, consisting of the heads and student bodies of Germany's universities, had elected the 55-year-old President of the University of Potsdam by a large majority the previous Tuesday. Thus a woman is heading the DAAD for the first time. Today, at a press conference in Berlin, Sabine Kunst presented the focal points of her future work: "I look forward to heading the largest organisation for academic exchange and academic co-operation world-wide. In the course of globalisation, international experience and, therefore, cosmopolitan education are becoming virtually vital to survival. Our aim ought to be that at least 50 percent of German students go abroad for a while during their studies and, also, that the numbers of foreign students and academics at German higher education institutions grow steadily."

Kunst regards a new approach in development co-operation as a further important field to address: "Education aid is the most effective development aid. We would like to make even more use of the wealth of experience that the DAAD and its grantees and alumni have gathered to participate in coping with the global challenges. Only in the context of international co-operation can problems such as climate change be dealt with." For example, Kunst announced, the DAAD will be organising networks and programmes on topical issues such as "energy", "water", "climate" and "megacities" for its former grantees from developing countries in which the Germany Alumni can exchange views on practical solutions and support them across country borders.

Thanks to her biography, Sabine Kunst is optimally prepared for the coming tasks: She first of all studied biology and political science and did her doctorate at the University of Hanover in 1982, qualifying as a Dr.-Eng. in environmental technology in the field of civil engineering and surveying. During numerous projects and research stays overseas, including in China, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil, she experienced just how important the political framework conditions and the public acceptance of the implementation and effectiveness of projects are, in addition to improved technologies. This was why she did a doctorate in political science as well, concluding her studies with a thesis on the topic of the field of tension between technology assessment and interdisciplinarity in 1990. In the same year, she qualified as a university lecturer (the German "Habilitation") at the University of Hanover.

After two years in office as Vice-president of the University of Hanover for Teaching, Studies, Further Education and International Affairs, she was elected President of the University of Potsdam in January 2007; she will continue to exercise this executive role in future, too. She already has close ties with the DAAD, having been a Board Member since January 2008. Sabine Kunst is married with three grown-up children.