Eastern Europe needs more than money and packages – this is the motto under which COPERNICUS e.V. was founded by students from Hamburg in 1992. The aim of the organization is to enable students from the post-communist states and North Africa to spend a semester studying and doing an internship in Germany.

Study trips abroad broaden your horizons and enable you to form your own impression of another country. At the same time, they offer the opportunity to study subject areas that are not taught in your home country. However, many students from Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe as well as Central Asia and North Africa are still unable to finance their studies in (Western) countries due to a lack of financial resources. In view of the EU enlargement, it seems all the more important that non-EU students also have the opportunity to find out about the significance of the enlargement for their country in Germany. After all, it will be they who will contribute in their countries to the successful realization of a common, enlarged European Union. For a country with the geographic location of Germany, it is of particular importance to have good personal and economic contacts in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa. However, many countries (such as Tajikistan, Belarus or Egypt) are still largely unknown in Germany, if only because not everyone in Germany has had the opportunity to get to know these countries personally.