The article presents an interim balance of the German government’s initiative to stimulate the partici-pation of national universities in transnational education. In order to improve the visibility of German higher education on the global level, since 2001 the government financially supports the setting up of study programmes in non-EU countries. Exporting universities are expected to charge study fees at a level that allows the programmes to gradually become self-financing. First, the article sketches the political rationale of the government programme and summarizes ma-jor programme characteristics, including the presentation of key data. Second, organisational and aca-demic aspects of the nearly 90 study programmes which have already been set up are highlighted. Third, overall programme information is illustrated by means of the description of two major projects (The German Institute of Science and Technology in Singapore and the German University Cairo). The two case studies not only provide an insight into the implementation of the government initiative, but also into the role of transnational education for the development of higher education in the receiv-ing countries. As a conclusion, the author argues that the programme successfully markets German higher education. Most of the projects, however, will need continued financial support to survive. From an academic point of view, some of the study programmes developed for foreign markets would deserve a re-import to Germany.