On June 25, 2009, the Institute for Cultural Interaction Studies (ICIS) concluded the agreement on academic interaction with the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, the University of Heidelberg. Under the agreement, the two institutes promote various programs about cultural interaction studies cooperatively.
The Cluster of Excellence is a part of the “Exzellenzinitiative” (Excellence Initiative) program of the German Research Foundation and the German Science and Research Council. The Exzellenzinitiative program aims to promote top-level researches and to improve the quality of German universities and research institutions in general. The Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” at the University of Heidelberg was opened in October 2007, which is the German equivalent of Japan's Global COE program.

Website of ICIS’s article about the agreement