Designing DAAD's New Counselling Tool for Its Global Network

Creating a unified advisory experience across DAAD's global offices

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has more than 60 offices around the world to help international students navigate studying in Germany. We designed a new counseling platform integrated with My GUIDE to support these advisors in their diverse work environments, creating a unified experience that bridges face-to-face consultations, video calls, and email exchanges.

Designing for such a globally distributed network required us to address major differences in digital literacy, cultural contexts, and technical infrastructure. From varying internet speeds to different counseling styles, our solution needed to work reliably in all environments.

Building a tool that enhances advisor efficiency while improving student experiences

Through extensive user feedback and continuous development, we gained a deep understanding of DAAD personnel needs and built a tool that bridges the gap. Powerful features help advisors speed up tasks, including:

• Automating answers to common, non-specific questions

• Creating advice templates and note templates for recurring topics

• Sharing templates with colleagues across the network

This not only improves efficiency but also ensures consistent, high-quality support for students.

Seamlessly integrating with My GUIDE for better counseling sessions

Most importantly, we needed to create a seamless connection between the existing My GUIDE platform and this new counselling tool to ensure they worked together intuitively despite serving different user groups with distinct needs.

Advisors can work directly within the platform while accessing or updating student data in real-time. This includes:

• Personalized advising folders

• Program and exam data

• Profile settings, checklists, and document uploads

All information stays synchronized with student accounts, making each session more targeted and productive.

Collaborative design that respects global differences in counseling approaches

Our approach combined several methodologies to create a tool that truly serves DAAD's global network:

• Extensive analysis of how counselors currently work in selected offices

• Identifying different workflows and organizational approaches across regions

• Weekly workshops and stakeholder meetings to refine solutions iteratively

• Expanding the existing My GUIDE design system to maintain consistency

• Developing an onboarding video process to help advisors transition

• Regular usability testing with representative counsellors from different regions

The result: A robust, adaptable tool that supports DAAD’s mission across borders while improving both the counselor and student experience.