Excellence Initiative
Excellence Initiative Source: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Excellence Initiative sponsored by the German federal government and the governments of the Länder is a Germany-wide competition aimed at the promotion of outstanding research projects and institutions at German higher education institutions. The goal of the initiative is to make lasting gains in Germany’s status as a center of scientific and academic activities, enhance the country’s international competitive standing, and raise the profile of outstanding accomplishments in the fields of academia and the sciences. To this end, a total of 1.9 billion euros in additional funding is being provided from 2006 to 2011.
A nationwide German competition with three lines of funding
Under the initiative, universities were invited to submit concepts for three different project-oriented lines of funding:
- Graduate schools that offer structured doctoral programs and provide junior scholars and scientists with an outstanding research environment for promising dissertation projects
- Research clusters that work with research institutions outside of the university, universities of applied sciences, and the private sector and offer an outstanding environment for junior scholars and scientists
- Future concepts that describe the university’s long-term goals and objectives and convincingly map out how the university can achieve a leading position in the international university landscape. For a university to be awarded funding under this line, the university must have at least one excellence cluster and one graduate school and be able to present a definitive overall strategy for the further development of its research profile.
The winning higher education institutions were selected by an independent judging panel made up of international members. After the funding decisions in October 2006 and October 2007, 39 graduate schools, 37 clusters of excellence, and nine future concepts were awarded funding. Each project received funding for five years. For all of its projects approved in the initiative, Freie Universität will receive a total of 108 million euros from 2007 to 2012. The German federal government and the governments of the Länder decided in 2007 to extend the project. The new call for submissions was published in March 2010. The funding period will run from 2012 to 2017.
Freie Universität approved for funding in all three categories
With nine projects approved in the Excellence Initiative (some of them in cooperation with other universities), Freie Universität emerged as the most successful university in the competition. Three clusters of excellence and five graduate schools are now being developed into key areas within the academic landscape in Berlin and Brandenburg. The “International Network University” future concept is being implemented in cooperation with the new projects and the existing structures.
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