The table below provides key data on how the DAAD has developed since 1950. Both the number of funding recipients and the other figures have seen
dynamic growth. In the 55 years since the DAAD was reestablished in 1950, more than 1.2 million students, academics and researchers have been awarded funding at home and abroad and have, in turn, formed and maintained contacts and created an ever-growing network whose academic, political and economic significance cannot be overestimated.

Key data on the development of the DAAD from 1950 - 2005

	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2004	2005
DAAD funding recipients	426	4,861	10,883	21,813	33,959	46,659	49,639	51,478
of which Germans	230	1,710	2,035	7,699	11,985	20,063	20,227	20,457
of which Foreigners	196	3,151	8,848	14,114	21,974	26,596	29,412	31,021
EU funding recipients (via the DAAD)	–	–	–	–	4,924	17,388	25,214	27,323
Total print-run for DAAD publications	–	155,000	200,000	415,000	427,000	825,000	600,000	570,000
Budget (expenditure in ’000 euros)	75	4,512	26,404	69,936	134,590	218,801	237,503	247,798
Staff positions (Head office, regional offices, Berlin office)	8	48	142	215	309	307.5	289	285
Project and contract-funded positions	–	6	2	12.5	2.5	161	254,35	264,24
Regional offices abroad/ in Germany/Maison Heinrich Heine	–	4	6	10	14	16	17	17
Member institutions	62 (pers.)	32	38	64	189	231	231	232
Member student bodies	–	32	37	49	99	127	124	127
Selection Committee members	–	44	187	328	474	543	580	570

No less significant than these quantitative indicators are the quality contributions to content and subject matter which the DAAD has made by systematically improving its programmes and developing innovative concepts on the quality of academic exchange and on the internal reform of Germany’s universities. Prime examples include the Action Programmes adopted in 1996, 2000 and 2004 to raise Germany’s international competitiveness as a centre of higher education, science and research, and the institutional programmes developed on the basis of these (see Chapter V of the full Annual Report, available in German only, for further details).