Rilke Schule feels honored to be part of this initiative
German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has launched the “Schools: Partners for the Future” Initiative. Its goal is to build a worldwide network of at least 1000 partner schools through which to awaken young people’s interest in and enthusiasm for modern-day Germany and German society. Additional funds to the tune of 45 million euro have been earmarked for the initiative in 2008. It will be coordinated by the Federal Foreign Office and implemented in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad, the Goethe-Institut, the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Academic Exchange Service.
The network of German schools abroad and schools offering the German Language Certificate will be strengthened and extended. In addition, cooperation between schools will be expanded to anchor German as a foreign language more firmly in national education systems. We want to develop fruitful and long-lasting ties with Germany and inspire schools, their teachers and pupils to enjoy an open exchange of views and engage in cooperation. For this reason the initiative plans to support many schools with a broad range of services.
By providing additional courses the initiative will help both pupils and teachers to acquire training with a long-term impact. The initiative will thus extend young people’s skills, preparing them for study in Germany and a subsequent career. The number of full grants for study in Germany is to be doubled for graduates of German schools abroad and partner schools. The international award programme will allow even more pupils from abroad to experience Germany first hand for several weeks.
The Central Agency for Schools Abroad promotes a network of more than 500 schools abroad offering qualifications recognized in Germany. This network of German schools abroad and national schools offering the German Language Certificate, as well as their cooperation with other schools in the network, will be strengthened and extended. Additional school coordinators and advisors will promote quality-based school development and support the establishment of new private schools with a German profile. They will intensify cooperation with local schools offering German as a foreign language and provide advice on structuring German lessons. Working with seconded extra teachers they will allow the creation of new courses leading to German qualifications in accordance with international standards. These include the multi-lingual International Baccalaureate with German, the Deutsche Internationale Abiturprüfung and the German Language Certificate of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (DSD).
"Education creates prospects – multilingualism opens new horizons"
With our partner schools abroad we not only want to give children access to the German language and education but also to awaken an interest in and understanding for each other. Openness to cultural diversity and tolerance towards other people's distinctiveness are not mutually exclusive. To help children grasp this even better we need, more than ever, places where they can meet, learn and be creative together. The ealier we realize that we are an international learning community, the more capable we will be of solving our shared problems. Our partner schools abroad want to contribute towards that goal."
German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has launched the “Schools: Partners for the Future” Initiative. Its goal is to build a worldwide network of at least 1000 partner schools through which to awaken young people’s interest in and enthusiasm for modern-day Germany and German society. Additional funds to the tune of 45 million euro have been earmarked for the initiative in 2008. It will be coordinated by the Federal Foreign Office and implemented in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad, the Goethe-Institut, the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Academic Exchange Service.