The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is a self-governing organisation of German institutions of higher education and is the world’s largest funding organization for international academic exchange. The DAAD—which has responsibilities in the fields of foreign cultural and education policy, development policy and national higher education policy—runs a large number of educational activities to inform members about new trends and developments in the preparation of scholars and staff from tertiary institutions for the challenges internationalization brings institutions.

The German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) is a voluntary association of state and state-recognized universities and other higher education institutions in Germany. The HRK is the political and public voice of the universities and other higher education institutions and is the forum for the higher education institutions’ joint opinion-forming process. The HRK addresses all topics relating to the responsibilities of higher education institutions, one of them being international higher education cooperation. In its work, it deals extensively with the challenges of managing higher education institutions.

The Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, a medium-sized tertiary institution in the northern part of Germany, offers a wide variety of bachelor and master programs. In 2004, it began to offer an MBA program “Higher Education and Research Management,” becoming one of the key tertiary education institutions to offer programs that give students both the theoretical and practical know-how to manage higher education institutions. Through the IDC, The Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences has extended its reach beyond Germany's borders and is offering training in higher education management in an international context.

The Centre for Higher Education (CHE), a think tank focusing on developments in higher education and jointly funded by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Rectors’ Conference, presents new ideas and concepts for higher education to the public and expert community. CHE, well known for their influential university ranking of German, Austrian and Swiss higher education institutions, offers numerous training programmes for tertiary institutions.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) is a major German organization facilitating international academic relations through cooperation between outstanding foreign and German researchers. The AvH offers research fellowships, research awards and special programs for alumni and organizes many major meetings in Germany for scholarship holders.

Freie Universität Berlin is a leading research institution. It is one of the German universities successful in all three funding lines in the federal and state Excellence Initiative, thereby receiving additional funding for its institutional future development strategy. Freie Universität thus stakes out a place as an international network university in the global competition among universities.