History

The KAAD is the scholarship organisation of the Catholic Church in Germany for postgraduates and academics from (developing) countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

By providing scholarships, educational events and personal and spiritual guidance, it supports its scholarship holders in view of their future multiplying activities in their home countries. This is done in cooperation with partner committees and associations of former scholarship holders in these countries, with the aim of (academic) network building and a contribution to holistic development that includes the religious and interreligious dimension.

In the 1950s, when German Catholics began to pay closer attention to issues and tasks of the global  church, lay organisations in particular became aware of the opportunities that could arise in this field through dialogue with students from overseas. Thus, KAAD emerged from an initiative of the Catholic Congress which took place in Fulda in 1954. In 1958 it was formaly registered as a non-profit association with its headquarters in Bonn.