Bilateral cultural relations
The official cultural cooperation is based on a bilateral Agreement on Cultural Cooperation dated April 1983. The Embassy coordinates the work of the various German cultural institutions in the Philipppines and maintains close contacts with numerous cultural and scientific institutions, groups and artists. It also organizes chamber music concerts with Filipino and German artists at the Ambassador’s residence or other venues.
The Goethe Institute Manila (German Cultural Center) was founded in 1961. It offers German language courses, provides an information center/library, organizes performances by visiting German music and dance ensembles, film shows, art exhibitions, theater shows and so forth.
In the recent past, academic and scientific cooperation was further enhanced through additional cooperation agreements between universities, joint research projects and exchange of scientific personnel. So far, over 300 students and scientists from the Philippines have received scholarships from either the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) or the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation (AvH). Every year about 20 new scholarships are awarded in the different programmes. There is currently one German visiting professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman (European Language Department) who is supported by the DAAD. In addition, there are several so called short-term lectureships supported by the DAAD in the Philippines.
A substantial number of German-Filipino friendship associations in Germany contribute to the cultural exchange between the two countries in many ways. On their concert tours to Germany, choirs from the Philippines regularly enthrall German audiences and regularly win prizes in choral competitions on national and international level.
The German School Manila was founded in 1980 under the name José Rizal School. In 1992, the German School and the Ecole Francaise de Manille jointly moved to the Eurocampus in Paranaque, Metro Manila. In the school year 2002/2003, they set up the European International School (EIS) that offers the internationally recognised International Baccalaureat (IB) degree programme. At the start of the school year 2008/2009, the school set up an english speaking stream (PYP program) starting with classes 1 and 2.
The school is now called the German European School Manila.
