At York University, the Centre has a university-wide mandate and reports to the Vice-President Research & Innovation. The Centre practices an interdisciplinary approach to creating and disseminating critical knowledge about Germany in its European context and about Europe as a geographical, political, social, cultural, and economic entity.

In carrying out its mandate, the Centre works together with other York research centres including the CITY Institute, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, the Centres for International and Security Studies and Jewish Studies as well as York’s Canada Research Chairholder in the Comparative Law of Corporate Governance.

Among the Centre’s key programs is its annual Transatlantic Forum, a platform which brings Canadian academics from a wide variety of disciplines together with German and European experts to examine issues of relevance to both sides .
In the context of its mandate to promote international academic mobility between Canada and Europe, the Centre at York currently houses the Ontario/Baden-Württemberg and Ontario/Rhône-Alpes Student Exchange Programs.

The Centre is part of the international network of Centres for German and European Studies founded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), and has a close relationship with several of Canada’s leading universities, especially with its sister centre at the Université de Montréal , the Institute for European Studies at the University of British Columbia, and with McGill University in Montréal. In Germany, the Centre collaborates actively with the universities of Konstanz and Mannheim, as well as with the Technical University of Dresden (in the context of an international doctoral researcher network). Other European partner institutions include the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland).

At the local level, the Centre at York works closely with University of Toronto and the Goethe Institute.