International exchange programmes

A year in the USA

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is an exchange programme organised jointly by the Congress of the United States of America and the German Bundestag.

The programme enables young Germans and Americans to spend a year in each other’s countries. Members of the German Bundestag act as sponsors for the young people for the duration of their stay abroad.

The German Bundestag collaborates with the Humboldt University in Berlin to run its International Parliamentary Internships scheme.

This gives well qualified young people with a strong interest in politics from the USA and Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of Germany’s system of parliamentary government.

The scheme involves fifteen-week placements with Members of the German Bundestag. The participants are introduced to the wide variety of tasks carried out in a Member’s office. For example, they may find themselves drafting speeches, articles and letters or doing preparatory work for plenary sittings.

The exchange programmes of the German Bundestag are conceived of as exciting ways of teaching young people about the significance of friendly cooperation based on shared political and cultural values.