German-American exchange

Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Programme holds course for success

For more than 35 years, the German Bundestag and the US Congress have offered young people the chance to spend time abroad, thus enhancing their personal and career prospects.

The combination of practical placement and college education offered by this programme is unique. The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Programme enables young people starting out in working life or undertaking a dual degree in Germany, which involves university courses and practical training in a company, who have already completed the vocational training part of their course, to spend a year in the USA and experience first-hand its history, society and economy. The exchange programme enhances their career prospects and helps them improve transatlantic relations, as junior ambassadors. 

Members of the German Bundestag and the US Congress act as mentors for the American and German participants respectively during their stay abroad. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has been responsible for implementing the programme for more than 35 years and, to date,  has helped around 5,500 German and American young professionals to participate in the exchange programme.
Scholarships cover the costs of preparations and follow-up, college studies, living in a host family, and travel and insurance costs, and are provided by the German Bundestag and the US Congress.
Trainees, dual degree students and young people already in work applying for the programme must have a date of birth after 31 July 1995, have learned English for several years, and have completed a course of vocational education before the exchange begins in August 2020. All applications must be received by 13 September 2019.

For more information and application forms please contact:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 36 - 40
53113 Bonn
Telephone: +49 228 4460 1272, -1339
Email: usappp@giz.de
www.giz.de/usappp