Excellence Initiative
The excellence initiative of the federal government and the federal states to promote science and research at German universities was a funding program in Germany that was launched for the first time in 2005/06 and started parallel to the fundamental change in higher education through the Bologna process . From 2017/18 it was replaced by the Excellence Strategy, the funding of which began in 2019. With the Excellence Initiative, the German government responded to the EU's Lisbon program from 2000. In it, the EU member states committed to investing in their education and science systems in order to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area in the world by 2010 . The Excellence Initiative (Exini) should serve to "[...] sustainably strengthen Germany as a location for science, [improve] its international competitiveness and make top research at German universities visible ( BMBF )."
History and concept
The excellence initiative was launched by the then SPD Federal Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn , who came up with the idea of organizing a nationwide competition between all German universities under the title “Brain up! Germany is looking for its top universities ”went public for the first time in January 2004. The announcement was supported by a decision by the SPD party presidium a few days earlier, the content of which was to advance the framework guidelines for the reform of the German higher education system.
The Excellence Initiative was divided into the three funding lines “Future Concepts” (development of the university as a whole), “Clusters of Excellence” (funding of research on a topic) and “ Graduate School ” (funding of doctoral students in a broad field of science). In initially two funding rounds, nine future concepts, 37 applications for clusters of excellence (2nd funding line) and 39 applications for graduate schools (1st funding line) were approved. The implementation of the Excellence Initiative is based on administrative agreements between the federal and state governments.
In 2019, the funding program will be continued in a modified form under the name Excellence Strategy. It now only includes the funding lines Clusters of Excellence and Universities of Excellence . The former funding lines “Future Concepts” and “Graduate School” are no longer applicable. In September 2017, the German Research Foundation and the Science Council published the preliminary decision in the form of a list of the projects requested. The request for applications was sent to 88 projects from 41 universities in 13 federal states. 195 projects had applied. On the basis of the final applications, the international Excellence Commission will decide on the final approvals in September 2018 [out of date] , which is expected to include 45 to 50 projects. Those universities that will have at least two clusters in funding can then apply for the title of University of Excellence.
Non-university research organizations are supported by the research funding initiative Pact for Research and Innovation . The universities in Germany are also funded by the University Pact 2020, which is primarily a response to the growing number of students through the suspension of compulsory military service and through dual Abitur classes.
Creation and implementation
It was formerly the goal of the federal government to sustainably increase the university landscape in Germany with a strong boost of around 1.9 billion euros over 4 years (around 470 million per year) from the state's income from the auction of UMTS licenses change. A compromise was then reached on June 23, 2005, which also enables research at smaller or highly diversified universities to be supported. The German Research Foundation and the Science Council were entrusted with the organizational processing and the scientific assessment and support. The Excellence Initiative was carried out in a multi-stage application and assessment process in two rounds (1st round in 2005/2006; 2nd round in 2006/2007). Mainly international experts assessed the quality of the submitted application sketches and made recommendations regarding eligibility. The final decision on the request for applications and funding was made by a joint committee made up of the DFG and the Science Council on the basis of the expert recommendations.
The Excellence Initiative is to be seen as a competition among thematically closed research concepts; it was deliberately designed as such. The teaching , its quality and its different characteristics depending on the university, played no role in this process; this was due to the reform of federalism , which allocated teaching to the states. Only in the Graduate Schools funding line should teaching be given a certain importance as a specific element of structured doctoral training; However, their status does not correspond to that of an undergraduate degree.
Funding lines
The Excellence Initiative comprises a total of three funding lines: Graduate School , Cluster of Excellence, and Future Concepts.
Graduate school
The Graduate Schools funding line serves to train doctoral students in a broad field of science with excellent academic support and excellent framework conditions. The research of the professors involved takes a back seat, while the research of the doctoral students is in the foreground. Each graduate school has around one million euros available per year.
Cluster of Excellence
The Excellence Initiative funding line, called the Cluster of Excellence, focuses on scientific research on a broader range of topics at one location and is funded with around 6.5 million euros per year. The point is not to work on a specific sub-area of a subject, but rather to bring together 25 excellently recognized scientists on a topic of social or economic relevance that is worked on together. Structural effects on the organizational structure of a university are expressly intended.
Future concepts
The future concept describes the long-term development of a university in research. It includes the focus on certain subject areas, the definition of goals for the entire university as well as directions - hence the strategic development. A successful application requires the application of at least one cluster of excellence and one graduate school. The eleven universities honored for their future concept can call themselves “Universities of Excellence”.
First round of the Excellence Initiative
Events
| date | description |
|---|---|
| September 30, 2005 | Submission of draft proposals |
| January 20, 2006 | Resolution on the request to submit an application |
| April 20, 2006 | Submission of applications |
| October 13, 2006 | Decision on funding |
| November 1, 2006 | Start of funding |
Result
On October 13, 2006, the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich , the Technical University of Munich and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology were selected from the ten universities that were asked to apply for the “Future Concept” funding line in the first round . They were each funded with a total of 21 million euros per year for the following five years. The prerequisite was positive reviews from at least one Cluster of Excellence and at least one Graduate School.
In addition to the future concepts, 18 other universities, each worth millions, were considered in the two other funding lines. All funded projects are presented in a short film portrait on the DFG video portal for the Excellence Initiative.
The media reported about a dispute between the representatives of the federal and state governments and the committee made up of the DFG and the Science Council. The politicians present were unhappy that they could not influence the final decision on the allocation of the funds.
Future concepts
| Name of the university (alphabetically by location) | Title of the future concept |
|---|---|
| University of Karlsruhe (Technical University) | A Concept for the Future of the University of Karlsruhe.
The Foundation of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - 2006 |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | LMUexcellent: Working brains - Networking minds - Living knowledge - 2006 |
| Technical University of Munich | TUM. The Entrepreneurial University - 2006 |
Graduate schools
Source: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Cluster of Excellence
| Host university (alphabetically by location) | Title of the Cluster of Excellence |
|---|---|
| RWTH Aachen | Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries ( integrative production technology for high-wage countries ) |
| RWTH Aachen | Ultra High-Speed Mobile Information and Communication (UMIC) |
| University of Bonn | Mathematics: Foundations, Models, Applications |
| Technical University Dresden | Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) |
| Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main | Macromolecular Complexes |
| Justus-Liebig university of Giessen | Cardio-Pulmonary System |
| Georg-August-University Goettingen | Microscopy at the Nanometer Range |
| Hannover Medical School | From Regenerative Biology to Reconstructive Therapy (REBIRTH) |
| Heidelberg University | Cellular Networks : From Analysis of Molecular Mechanisms to a Quantitative Understanding of Complex Functions |
| University of Karlsruhe (Technical University) | Center for Functional Nanostructures |
| Christian Albrechts University in Kiel | The Future Ocean |
| University of Konstanz | Cultural Foundations of Integration (cultural foundations of integration) |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Munich Center for Advanced Photonics |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Nanosystems Initiative Munich |
| Technical University of Munich | Cognition for Technical Systems |
| Technical University of Munich | Origin and Structure of the Universe - The Cluster of Excellence for Fundamental Physics |
Second round of the Excellence Initiative
Events
| date | description |
|---|---|
| September 15, 2006 | Submission of draft proposals |
| January 12, 2007 | Resolution on the request to submit an application |
| April 13, 2007 | Submission of applications |
| October 19, 2007 | Decision on funding |
| November 1, 2007 | Start of funding |
In contrast to the first round of the Excellence Initiative, this time there was a collaboration between the Science Council, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and politicians. Initially, only the Science Council and the DFG met. The universities that were supposed to submit an application for the third funding line selected RWTH Aachen University , Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and the University of Konstanz as safe candidates for the future funding guidelines. The Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and the Free University of Berlin , however, were classified as shaky candidates. The Ruhr-University Bochum , the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Georg-August-University of Goettingen should not be included in the third line of funding, according to scientists. This assessment was then discussed with the politicians and the final list worked out together - in contrast to the procedure in the first round of the Excellence Initiative.
Result
On October 19, 2007, the results of this round were announced. The projects funded in the second round will also be presented in the DFG video portal with a short film portrait.
Future concepts
| Name of the university (alphabetically by location) | Title of the future concept |
|---|---|
| RWTH Aachen | RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges |
| Free University of Berlin | International Network University |
| Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg | Windows for Research |
| University of Göttingen | Goettingen. Tradition - innovation - autonomy |
| University of Heidelberg | Heidelberg: Realizing the Potential of a Comprehensive University |
| University of Konstanz | Constance model - towards a culture of creativity |
Graduate schools
Cluster of Excellence
Third round of the Excellence Initiative
Events
| date | description |
|---|---|
| September 1, 2010 | Submission of draft proposals |
| March 2, 2011 | Resolution on the request to submit an application |
| September 1, 2011 | Submission of applications |
| June 15, 2012 | Decision on funding |
| November 1, 2012 | Start of funding |
On March 12, 2010, the DFG and the Science Council published the criteria for the third round of the Excellence Initiative. German universities were able to submit their new draft proposals for the Excellence Initiative by September 1, 2010. A total of 65 universities took advantage of this. They submitted 98 preliminary applications for graduate schools, 107 applications for clusters of excellence and 22 applications for future concepts.
On March 2, 2011, 25 draft proposals from 18 universities for graduate schools, 27 draft proposals from 24 universities for clusters of excellence and seven draft proposals for the future concept were selected from these applications, for which full proposals had to be submitted by September 1, 2011. Projects already approved in the first and second round of the Excellence Initiative were automatically invited to submit renewal applications. In the third funding line, the future concept - in addition to the future concepts already approved in the first two rounds - the Humboldt University of Berlin , Ruhr University Bochum , University of Bremen , Technical University of Dresden , Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz , and University of Cologne and the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen selected.
A joint commission made up of representatives from the German Research Foundation and the German Government's Science Council evaluated the full proposals by June 2012. The joint commission passed on recommendations to the approval committee, which included not only the members of the commission but also the federal and state ministers responsible for science. The committee then decided which applications would be funded with a total of 2.7 billion euros by the end of 2017. 75 percent of the funds are provided by the federal government and 25 percent by the federal states.
On June 15, 2012, the federal and state committee announced the eleven universities that were allowed to designate themselves as elite universities until the decision in the first round of the Excellence Strategy on July 19, 2019 . The Humboldt University of Berlin , the University of Bremen , the Technical University of Dresden , the University of Cologne and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen were renamed, while the RWTH Aachen , the Free University of Berlin , the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg , the university Konstanz and the two Munich universities ( Technical University Munich and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich ) were able to defend their elite status. In contrast, the University of Freiburg , the Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology lost the title again in this round.
The eleven universities with the “seal of approval” are located in six federal states : Bavaria (2), Baden-Württemberg (3), North Rhine-Westphalia (2), Saxony (1), Bremen (1) and Berlin (2).
Ten countries went away empty-handed. Apart from the northern states of Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Saxony-Anhalt , Brandenburg , Thuringia , Rhineland-Palatinate , Hesse and Saarland did not show any “Excellence Universities” in the third round.
Future concepts
Source: German Research Foundation, Science Council
| Name of the university (alphabetically by location) | Title of the future concept |
|---|---|
| RWTH Aachen | RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges |
| Free University of Berlin | International Network University |
| Humboldt University of Berlin | Education through science |
| University of Bremen | Ambitious and agile |
| Technical University Dresden | The Synergetic University |
| Heidelberg University | Heidelberg: Realizing the Potential of a Comprehensive University |
| University of Cologne | Accept the challenge of change and complexity |
| University of Konstanz | Constance model - towards a culture of creativity |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | LMUexcellent: Working brains - Networking minds - Living knowledge - 2006 |
| Technical University of Munich | TUM. The Entrepreneurial University - 2006 |
| Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen | Research - Relevance - Responsibility |
Graduate schools
| Host university (alphabetically by location) | Graduate School Title |
|---|---|
| Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen | Aachen graduate school for computer-aided natural and engineering sciences |
| Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg | Bamberg Graduate School for Social Sciences |
| University of Bayreuth | Bayreuth International Graduate School for African Studies |
| Free University of Berlin | Graduate School of North American Studies |
| Free University of Berlin | Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies |
| Free University of Berlin | Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies |
| Free University of Berlin | Graduate School of East Asian Studies |
| Free University of Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies |
| Free University of Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin Graduate School for Integrative Oncology |
| Humboldt University of Berlin | Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Humboldt University of Berlin | Graduate School for Analytical Sciences Adlershof |
| Technical University Berlin | Berlin Mathematical School |
| Bielefeld University | Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) |
| Ruhr-University Bochum | Ruhr University Research School Plus |
| University of Bremen | Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) |
| Darmstadt University of Technology | Computational engineering |
| Darmstadt University of Technology | Darmstadt Graduate School for Energy Science and Energy Technology |
| Technical University Dresden | Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering |
| Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg | Graduate School for Advanced Optical Technologies |
| Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau | Spemann Graduate School for Biology and Medicine (SGBM) |
| Justus-Liebig university of Giessen | International Graduate Center for Cultural Studies |
| Georg-August-University Goettingen | Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics and Molecular Biosciences |
| Heidelberg University | Heidelberg Graduate School for Fundamental Physics |
| Heidelberg University | Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for Science |
| Heidelberg University | The Hartmut Hoffmann-Berling International Graduate School for Molecular and Cell Biology Heidelberg |
| Friedrich Schiller University Jena | Graduate School for Microbial Communication - Jena |
| Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) | Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics (KSOP) |
| Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) | Karlsruhe School of Elementary Particle and Astroparticle Physics: Science and Technology (KSETA) |
| Christian Albrechts University in Kiel | Integrated studies of human development in landscapes |
| University of Cologne | Graduate School Bonn-Cologne in Physics and Astronomy |
| University of Cologne | artes Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne (AGSHC) |
| University of Konstanz | Konstanz Graduate School Chemical Biology |
| University of Konstanz | Graduate School of Decision Sciences |
| Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Materials science IN MainZ |
| University of Mannheim | Graduate School in Economics and Social Sciences: Empirical and Quantitative Methods |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Graduate School for Systems Neuroscience |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Graduate School for Quantitative Biosciences Munich (QBM) |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Distant worlds: Ancient Studies College in Munich |
| Ludwig Maximilians University Munich and University of Regensburg | Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies |
| Technical University of Munich | International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE) |
| University of Saarland | Saarbrücken Graduate School for Computer Science |
| University of Stuttgart | Graduate School for Advanced Manufacturing Engineering |
| Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen | Graduate School LEAD (Learning, Educational Achievement, and Life Course Development) |
| Ulm University | International Graduate School for Molecular Medicine Ulm (IGradU) |
| Bavarian Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg | Graduate School of Life Sciences |
Cluster of Excellence
| Host university (alphabetically by location) | Title of the Cluster of Excellence |
|---|---|
| Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen | Integrative production technology for high-wage countries |
| Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen | Tailor-made fuels from biomass |
| Free University of Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin | NeuroCure - new perspectives in the therapy of neurological diseases |
| Free University of Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin | Topoi - The formation and transformation of space and knowledge in ancient cultures |
| Humboldt University of Berlin | Image knowledge design. An interdisciplinary laboratory |
| Technical University Berlin | Unifying Concepts in Catalysis |
| Bielefeld University | Cognitive interaction technology |
| Ruhr-University Bochum | RESOLV (Ruhr Explores Solvation) - Understanding and design of solvent-dependent processes |
| University of Bonn | Mathematics: basics, models, applications |
| University of Bonn | ImmunoSensation: The immune sensory system |
| University of Bremen | The Ocean in the Earth System - MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences |
| Chemnitz University of Technology | Technology fusion for multifunctional lightweight structures - MERGE |
| Technical University Dresden | Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) |
| Technical University Dresden | Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfAED) |
| Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and University of Cologne | Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences - from complex properties to synthetic modules |
| Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg | New materials and processes - hierarchical structure formation for functional components |
| Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main | Dynamics of Macromolecular Complexes |
| Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main | The formation of normative orders |
| Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and Justus Liebig University Gießen | Cardiopulmonary System |
| Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau | BIOSS Center for Biological Signaling Studies - From Analysis to Synthesis |
| Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau | BrainLinks - BrainTools |
| Georg-August-University Goettingen | Nanometer-scale microscopy and molecular physiology of the brain |
| University of Hamburg | Integrated climate system analysis and forecast |
| University of Hamburg | The Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI): Structure, dynamics and control of matter on the atomic scale |
| Hannover Medical School | REBIRTH - From Regenerative Biology to Reconstructive Therapy |
| Heidelberg University | Cellular Networks: From the Analysis of Molecular Mechanisms to the Quantitative Understanding of Complex Functions |
| Heidelberg University | Asia and Europe in a Global Context: The Dynamics of Transculturality |
| Christian Albrechts University in Kiel | Future ocean |
| Christian Albrechts University in Kiel | Inflammation at interfaces |
| University of Cologne | Cellular stress responses in age-related diseases |
| University of Konstanz | Cultural foundations of integration |
| Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Precision Physics, Fundamental Forces and Structure of Matter |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Nanosystem Initiative Munich (NIM) |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Center for Integrated Protein Research (CIPSM) |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Munich Center for Advanced Photonics (MAP) |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | Systems Neurology Cluster - Munich |
| Technical University of Munich | Origin and Structure of the Universe - The Cluster of Excellence for Fundamental Physics |
| Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster | Religion and Politics in the Cultures of the Premodern and Modern |
| Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster | Cells in Motion - CiM: Visualization and understanding of cellular behavior in living organisms |
| Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg | Hearing for all: models, technologies and solutions for diagnosis, restoration and support of hearing |
| University of Saarland | Multimodal Computing and Interaction. Robust, Efficient and Intelligent Processing of Text, Speech, Visual Data and High Dimensional Representations |
| University of Stuttgart | Simulation technology |
| Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen | Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) |
Other models
The Saxon Excellence Initiative
In the first phase in the Free State of Saxony , only the Technical University of Dresden for a graduate school and a cluster of excellence and the University of Leipzig for a graduate school received funding from the excellence initiative of the federal and state governments.
In March 2007, the Saxon government decided to support its four universities with an additional 110 million euros until 2013 from funds from the European Regional Development Fund for cutting-edge research. Above all, nano- and microelectronics are to be supported in research. The applications approved so far relate to the research field of biotechnologies. Especially in Dresden, reference is made to the enormous research funding in competing regions of microelectronics such as Albany (New York) and Grenoble .
criticism
Loss of quality, disadvantages for "non-elite universities"
According to critics, the German university landscape would be divided. The work of the universities that do not receive the seal of “University of Excellence” is made more difficult by the hierarchy that now exists between “elite” and “non-elite”. Students and professors might prefer the "elite" universities over the "normal" ones. In addition to the lower level of government funding for ordinary universities, it is also more difficult for them to acquire third-party funding. The GEW fears that the necessary basic funding is no longer sufficient. Broadly, this leads to a loss of quality in the German university landscape. The Frankfurter Rundschau wrote about this after the third round of awarding: “But the competition for billions in funding and the effort to transform universities into efficient organizations and position them like commercial enterprises on the world research market has its price: In the shadow of the winners now a group of losers who may gradually run out of arguments for their existence. They are left behind, although they are urgently needed for an excellent education for the 2.2 million students in Germany. That is the negative. "
Strengthening research, weakening teaching
The Excellence Initiative has a total of 4.6 billion euros (first round 1.9 billion euros, second round 2.7 billion euros) available for the funding period from 2006 to 2017. In contrast, only around 2 billion euros are earmarked for the “Teaching Quality Pact” from 2011 to 2020. Critics see this as a continuation of a development that began in the 1980s, as a result of which German universities only receive financial growth selectively for selected areas of research funding ( third-party funding ) with constantly growing student numbers . Funding for studies and teaching has essentially been frozen.
The competition between universities in Germany, Europe and worldwide is increasing, so the criticism, through such initiatives. Ultimately, this leads to a division of the educational landscape into a “two-tier university system” in which a distinction is made between “elite” and “mass”: On the one hand, there is elite top research for master’s students; on the other hand, mass training in the form of a bachelor’s degree, which takes into account the desire for the fastest possible training for the labor market. Compared to the quality of research, the quality of teaching plays a negligible role.
Short term planning
Using the example of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Göttingen , which were granted the status in the first and second round and withdrawn in the third, critics see the planning uncertainty for the universities documented: the status of a university of excellence could after that for a sustainable development could be withdrawn for a short period of five years, although the concepts were still being implemented and the quality in research and teaching - if measurable at all - had not declined.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology failed not because of its “highly praised” future concept, but because the university failed in the first five years to establish a cluster (interdisciplinary research association) that was considered worthy of funding. Without a second pillar, that would not mean promotion to a university of excellence. The Karlsruhe association of the university and the Helmholtz Center in particular was considered an outstanding model nationwide, as the federal government (Merkel II cabinet) wanted to bring top research back to the universities.
The lawyer and science politician George Turner is one of the staunch critics of the Excellence Initiative .
“The mixing of judgments about services rendered and the applications and scenarios of administrative actions based on them leads to irrelevant results. After the end of the funding period in 2017, this will lead to a solidified imbalance in the German university system. This causes more harm than the most absurd projects in the 1970s. "
Evaluation of the Excellence Initiative by an international commission
In September 2014, a ten-person international expert commission was set up to evaluate the Excellence Initiative (IEKE) under the leadership of the Swiss environmental physicist and science manager Dieter Imboden , which evaluated the Excellence Initiative on behalf of the Joint Science Conference (GWK). Above all, the commission should find out whether the research policy objectives of the initiative have been achieved, e.g. to increase the international visibility of the universities. Among other things, the commission questioned rectors of universities who had successfully and unsuccessfully submitted applications in order to identify indirect effects. The office of the commission was at the "Berlin Institute for Innovation and Technology". In addition to Imboden, the following scientists were members of the commission: Elke Lütjen-Drecoll (deputy chairwoman), Swantje Bargmann , Marie-Louise Bech Nosch , Gerhard Casper , Simon Gächter , Christoph Kratky , Klara Nahrstedt , Felicitas Pauss and Daniel Scheidegger . Imboden was President of the Swiss National Science Foundation until the end of 2012 .
The Commission presented its final report in January 2016. She assessed the previous funding under the Excellence Initiative as overall successful and made the following recommendations for the continuation of the Excellence Initiative:
- the abolition of funding for graduate schools, since the established mechanisms for promoting young researchers have meanwhile proven to be sufficient;
- the abolition of the promotion of future concepts in order to relieve the universities, which were previously forced to draw up elaborate change plans;
- the merging of the previous funding lines into two, namely the funding of thematic clusters of excellence and the direct distribution of an excellence award of around 15 million euros to the ten best universities in each case.
Main features of the excellence strategy that will follow in 2019
From mid-2019 onwards, in accordance with an agreement made by the federal and state governments in 2016, the Excellence Initiative will be replaced by an Excellence Strategy that provides for a number of changes:
- The funding of the universities that will receive the status of excellence on July 19, 2019 is set to run for seven years and should then be evaluated instead of being exposed to a new competition. If none of the universities currently funded lose their excellence status, up to 15 universities could receive funding under the Excellence Strategy.
- The only selection criteria for funding are the cluster applications submitted, 45 to 50 of which are to be funded. In order to achieve excellence status, the individual university must now be successful with at least two clusters; University associations, such as those formed in Berlin by the Free University, the Humboldt University and the Technical University , must succeed with at least three clusters, each of the participating universities with at least one.
- The annual funding for individual universities should amount to ten to 15 million euros within the framework of the Excellence Strategy, and 15 to 28 million euros for associations. The funding volume from 2019 will total 533 million euros.
See also
literature
- Christian Marzlin: The excellence initiative of the federal and state governments on the constitutional test stand (= Cologne writings on law and state . Vol. 58.) PL Academic Research, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-631-67063-7 (dissertation, University Bonn 2015, 279 pages).
- Gerhard Wagner: Does excellence matter? A sociological perspective . In: Sociology . No. 1 , 2007, p. 7-20 .
- Michael Hartmann : The Excellence Initiative - a paradigm shift in German university policy . In: Leviathan . No. 4 , 2006, p. 447-465 .
- Stephan Leibfried : The Excellence Initiative: Interim Balance and Perspectives , ed. for the interdisciplinary working group Excellence Initiative of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Frankfurt am Main, New York 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39264-6
- Annett Defects: Elite Excellence . Sheets for German and International Politics, 12/2007, pp. 1416–1419.
- Richard Münch : The academic elite. For the social construction of scientific excellence . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-518-12510-6 .
- Richard Münch: Science in the shadow of cartel, monopoly and oligarchy. The latent effects of the Excellence Initiative . In: Leviathan . No. 4 , 2006, p. 466-486 .
- Michael Sondermann, Dagmar Simon, Anne-Marie Scholz, Stefan Hornbostel : "The Excellence Initiative : Observations from the Implementation Phase " (PDF; 1.8 MB), iFQ -Working Paper No. December 5, 2008
Web links
- Presentation of the Excellence Initiative by the Federal Government
- Report of the Joint Commission of the DFG and the Science Council on the Excellence Initiative (as of December 18, 2008) (PDF; 4.2 MB)
- Information on the Excellence Initiative on the website of the German Research Foundation, accessed on May 3, 2017
- Information on the Excellence Strategy on the website of the German Research Foundation, accessed on October 4, 2017
- Background information on the Excellence Initiative and its continuation from 2017 on the DFG website
- Michael Hartmann: The Excellence Initiative - a paradigm shift in German university policy
- The construction of an "elite". Background to the Excellence Initiative at German universities (analysis & criticism)
- Science Council website on the Excellence Strategy
Individual evidence
- ↑ From excellent lighthouses in an educational desert. In: List of course participants. 2012, on LiSA-Bremen.de, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Peer Pasternack : The Excellence Initiative as a political program. Continuation of normal research funding or paradigm shift ?, in: Roland Bloch / Andreas Keller / André Lottmann / Carsten Würmann (eds.), Making Excellence. Basics, practice and consequences of the Excellence Initiative, W. Bertelsmann Verlag, Bielefeld 2008, p. 2
- ↑ see http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/2010/info_wissenschaft_10_13/index.html
- ↑ see page of the BMBF on the Excellence Strategy , accessed on September 29, 2016.
- ^ Cluster of Excellence funding line: Complete list of the projects invited to submit applications (results of the meeting of the expert committee on September 27 and 28, 2017) [1] , accessed October 3, 2017
- ↑ Who will be the "University of Excellence"? Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
- ↑ a b The projects funded in the Excellence Initiative in the film portrait in the DFG media library, accessed on April 3, 2017 ( Memento from March 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Jan Friedmann: Knatsch in the elite selection. In: Spiegel Online. October 13, 2006, accessed November 23, 2006 .
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Education and Research: "Excellence Initiative" , section graduate schools
- ↑ Jochen Leffers: Elite universities: Jubilation in the southern states. In: Spiegel Online . October 19, 2007, accessed February 27, 2015 .
- ↑ DFG press release on the decision of the second round of the Excellence Initiative Press Release No. 65, October 19, 2007 - Second round of the Excellence Initiative decided ( Memento of January 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Time limit see archive link ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) under Cluster of Excellence
- ↑ CSI ( Memento from June 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ MMCI
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Timetable of the university competition Status: 2. November 2010 accessed on November 28, 2010 ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b German Research Society: "First decisions in the second phase of the federal and state excellence initiative"
- ^ Result of the meeting of the Joint Commission on Excellence Initiative on March 2, 2011, accessed on March 2, 2011 (PDF; 30 kB)
- ↑ Technical University of Dresden Dates: “15. June 2012: Funding decisions 2012–2017 " ( Memento from January 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Decision on Excellence Initiative: Five new members among the elite universities ( memento from October 11, 2012 on WebCite ) at tagesschau.de, June 15, 2012 (accessed on June 15, 2012).
- ↑ a b George Turner: Your Excellency and what else? In: Handelsblatt . June 19, 2012.
- ^ Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Wissenschaftsrat: result of the meeting of the grant committee on June 15, 2012 (PDF; 48 kB)
- ↑ Kristina Beer: Universities: GEW calls for solid basic funding, the excellence initiative is "wrong approach". In: Heise online. January 28, 2016, accessed February 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Katja Irle: Excellence Initiative: Concentration on teaching. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. June 15, 2012, from FR-online.de, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Marlene Nowotny: Research policy: Elite universities bring quality loss. In: Österreichischer Rundfunk. November 30, 2012, from Science.ORF.at, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Eleven universities receive elite status. In: Augsburger Allgemeine. June 16, 2012, accessed February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Neu-Humboldt'sche elite universities. Section Insufficient Measures. September 7, 2016, from Burschenschaft.de, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ^ The members of the International Expert Commission for the Evaluation of the Excellence Initiative. In: IEKE press kit. Institute for Innovation and Technology (IIT), on iit-Berlin.de, accessed on February 13, 2017 (PDF; 425 kB).
- ↑ IEKE.info ( memento of February 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) was the former website of the International Commission of Experts. Refers to VDI / VDE-IT, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Evaluation of the Excellence Initiative starts. In: Press release of the Joint Science Conference (GWK). Berlin / Bonn September 22, 2014, at GWK-Bonn.de, accessed on February 13, 2017 (PDF; 479 kB).
- ↑ DFG welcomes the “Imboden Report” on the Excellence Initiative. German Research Foundation, Press Release No. 3, January 29, 2016, at DFG.de, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Ute Welty: Balance of the Excellence Initiative - No one with an asterisk. From Tagesschau.de, April 22, 2016, accessed on February 13, 2017.
- ↑ Der Tagesspiegel , September 27, 2017, p. 22: On to new excellence.
- ↑ International Commission of Experts for the Evaluation of the Excellence Initiative - Final Report - January 2016 (PDF; 1.2 MB)
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