The 135 German schools abroad spread across more than 70 countries, with over 80,000 pupils and around 1,200 teachers from Germany, serve as a key showcase of German education and cultural policy. They act as ambassadors for Germany, spreading German culture and education worldwide, fostering mutual understanding, and enabling friendships across borders. They promote international understanding, collaboration, and networking while simultaneously offering an excellent education for children from both Germany and their host countries.

These schools are also of great importance to German companies abroad: they provide the children of expatriates with high-quality German education – sometimes even vocational – with an international focus. Additionally, they train professionals and executives who are rooted in the region, understand their countries, and can mediate between cultures. The graduates are a vital resource for many companies to fill vacancies in their respective countries and in Germany. This was also confirmed by a survey conducted by the Foreign Office among the member companies of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, which was supported by the DIHK.

For these reasons, the German economy places great importance on German schools abroad. The DIHK, therefore, publicly acknowledges the excellent work of these schools for the tenth time: in 2027, three schools will again be honoured for their pioneering projects, and up to seven excellence awards will be granted to other schools.

The 10th DIHK Competition for German Schools Abroad is once again under the motto "Students Build Bridges Worldwide." We encourage German schools abroad to submit their projects, ideas, and school programmes for our competition. 

We are looking for projects from German schools abroad that, for example:

• use innovative approaches to equip their students with essential digital skills for the workforce,
• address topics such as sustainability, ecological transformation, and climate change, or
• promote vocational education and economic activities.

I would like to personally encourage all German schools abroad to participate in the tenth round of the competition with their creative ideas. The DIHK is providing a total prize fund of €120,000 for the competition. As always, I and the entire competition jury look forward to the new contributions with great anticipation and excitement. 

Best of luck to all participating schools!

Peter Adrian

President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry