10. April 2013

At the end of March 2013, about 100 former DAAD scholarship holders of different fields of study met at the  Berlin School of Economics and Law for an India alumni meeting. The alumni were funded by the DAAD program "A New Passage to India", which reinforces the academic exchanges with India to increase the India-competencies at German universities.

Beside the sharing of personal experiences and impressions the event was focused on the strategic direction of the initiative. In workshops the participants discussed the related issues, such as the establishment of regional alumni groups, the know-how transfer for the founding of the association, the development of networks for the knowledge transfer to future scholarship holders, but also issues such as the advancement of volunteering as part of the project "Teach for India".

The program was completed by exciting presentations, i.a. by the alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) Christian Klemenz, who reported about his start-up company "St. Erhard". The company which he founded in cooperation with a former Indian classmate exports franconian beer to India and markets the German product successfully on the Indian domestic market.

Finally Mrs. Miriam Condé from the DAAD spoke about future funding measures and scholarship opportunities for those who are interested in India.

Author: Charlotte Dünnwald - Alumna of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad