About GASS and SAGSE

The German Australian Student Society (GASS) is an offshoot of the Society for Australian-German Student Exchange (SAGSE). There are branches in New South Wales and Victoria. We are students who have been a part of the SAGSE scholarship programme, and who form a committee each year to work with SAGSE to help the smooth running of the programme. Some of the regular tasks we perfom include running camps for scholarship winners and finding Australian host-families for the Germans who come to Australia.

SAGSE is the financial stronghold of the progamme. It organises the funding and co-ordination of the exchange programme between Australia and Germany each year. Approximately 24 school students in year 11 (and 12 in Victoria) from Australia and New Zealand are selected through an application and interview process to participate in a ten-week scholarship exchange.

The students leave Australia in late November and return in February having experienced a German winter and life in a German family. Whilst in Germany they are expected to attend school regularly, and also participate in other activites organised for them. These include a five-day camp, and a trip to Berlin.

The Society for Australian-German Student Exchange (SAGSE) was founded in Melbourne in 1967 by Mr Fritz von Einem-Joosten, a German businessman who had been seriously wounded while fighting on the Russian Front and who emigrated to Australia soon after the war. He believed such conflicts could be avoided if young people from different countries could meet and learn to understand each other. The Society has now sent more than 1000 students on exchange.

There are also numerous social events held throughout the year.