Every year, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports well over 100,000 German and international students and researchers around the globe – making it the world's largest funding organisation of its kind. DAAD scholarships are aimed primarily at graduates, doctoral students and postdocs and are awarded for study and research visits to universities and non-university research institutions in Germany.

DAAD awards Research Grants – Short-Term Grants for PhD students and postdocs and Research Grants – One-Year Grants for Doctoral Candidates from almost all countries of origin. A grant for a full doctoral program in Germany is offered primarily to applicants from developing and threshold countries (based on the OECD-DAC list).

Also available are so-called “Sur-place and Third Country Program” in which students and young scientists and researchers are offered DAAD funding for an undergraduate program, doctoral program or postdoc period in their home country or region.

DAAD also offers scholarships for Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS). The EPOS program offers individual scholarships for development-related postgraduate courses at selected universities in Germany.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation offers Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers. Junior researchers of all nationalities and disciplines can carry out their own long-term research project in cooperation with an academic host of their choice at a research institution in Germany.