"The Institute promotes research into and teaching programs on the cultural and socio-political reality of present-day Germany. Furthermore, the Institute works to foster greater familiarity with and to deepen the understanding of modern German society among the University's academic community. Given Germany's central role within Europe following the break-up of the Eastern Bloc, the Institute places contemporary issues of German society at the heart of its activities and plays an important part in stimulating and facilitating academic exchange between Germany and Israel."