How did a company running student dormitories grow to become a successful non-profit company working in the area of international education and qualifications? Read our company history to find out.
On 26 January 1962, the company that would eventually become Carl Duisberg Centren was founded as the Carl Duisberg-Wohnheim Gesellschaft mbH. The main task of this young company was to set up and manage dormitories for foreign students who were receiving scholarships from the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V. (CDG).
The Carl Duisberg Training Centers in Dortmund, Munich, and Saarbrücken were founded – initially beginning life as dormitories.
Our company was renamed Carl Duisberg Centren gemeinnützige GmbH, the name we still have today. At this time, we also took our first steps into the field of further education with the introduction of German courses for CDG scholarship recipients.
The Carl Duisberg Förderkreis e.V. became the majority shareholder of Carl Duisberg Centren gemeinnützige GmbH.
Carl Duisberg Centren expanded the range German courses offered, opening up its courses to participants not associated with the CDG, including other exchange organizations, German companies, and international organizations.
Under contract from a major Venezuelan scholarship fund, Carl Duisberg Centren took on the administration of its first long-term university program with several hundred scholarship recipients.
Carl Duisberg Centren took over GEPRA (Gesellschaft für praktisches Auslandswissen) and set up a language travel program, which today still remains an important part of our portfolio of educational products. At the same time, the company also introduced seminars and intercultural training courses to prepare managers at German companies for foreign postings – today these courses are part of our corporate training business unit.
Carl Duisberg Centren introduced further education and training programs for participants from OPEC member states.
Carl Duisberg Sprachendienst was founded in Hanover to provide foreign language courses for managers working in German companies. Until 2020, our Hanover location offered the entire corporate customer product portfolio.
The Carl Duisberg Training Center in Radolfzell on Lake Constance was opened. In collaboration with partners from the German business world and the German Federal Government, Carl Duisberg Centren launched professional training programs for Iran and China. Our first international branch office was opened in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Carl Duisberg Centren introduced the internationally recognized certificate “Business German” (today known as PWD – Prüfung Wirtschaftsdeutsch) in collaboration with the Goethe Institute and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce.
As a part of its series of teaching materials Dialog Deutsch, which was being developed at the time, Carl Duisberg Centren produced the first exclusively video-based German language course program available on the German market titled “Sprache im Betrieb” (Language on the Job).
Our branch office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia opened its doors in 1992 and is still going strong today.
Carl Duisberg Centren Intertraining & Consult GmbH was founded as a subsidiary of Carl Duisberg Centren gemeinnützige GmbH. Carl Duisberg Centren opened an office in Moscow.
The Heinz Nixdorf Foundation hired Carl Duisberg Centren to run a long-term business training program for young people in Russia.
The Carl Duisberg International School Program was launched to give German secondary school students the opportunity to attend school in an English-speaking country as an exchange student. The Carl Duisberg Training Center Berlin and our branch office in Beijing were opened. The company also began a roll out of a wider range of Study Tours to Germany aimed at managers and skilled workers from several countries, e.g. China, Brazil, Vietnam, and Russia.
The Carl Duisberg International School Program was expanded to include Boarding School Programs. In addition, the Open University set up a study center at the Carl Duisberg Training Center in Cologne.
The newly established non-profit Carl Duisberg Foundation for International Education and Cooperation became the majority shareholder of Carl Duisberg Centren gemeinnützige GmbH.
Study Abroad Programs were launched for students from American colleges and universities.
Carl Duisberg Centren received the MTP 4 contract as the lead organization in a consortium of nine European companies for an EU-sponsored management training program for Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan.
Our subsidiary Carl Duisberg Training Center Beijing was founded in China.
The Carl Duisberg Training Center Rhine-Main in Neu-Isenburg nearby Frankfurt was opened.
Carl Duisberg Centren celebrated its 50th anniversary with an employee party and numerous special offers for its customers.
The corporate customer business with language courses and intercultural training became an independent business unit.
With the acquisition of German language course provider S+W speak+write gGmbH, Carl Duisberg Centren expanded its nationwide presence with a new location in Marburg. The newly formed subsidiary CDC MX – Centro de Capacitación Alemán began its work in Mexico City and Puebla.