2007 - 2012

With its future concept of the “International Network University,” Freie Universitaet Berlin was one of nine German universities selected in 2007 to receive funding in the Excellence Initiative jointly sponsored by the German federal government and the governments of the German states.

2012 - 2017/18

The follow-up proposal “Veritas – Justitia – Libertas. International Network University” was approved in the Excellence Initiative in 2012 for another five years until 2017 together with five other German universities.  Since 2012 until 2017/18 the Freie Universitaet Berlin has hosted two clusters and was participated in three clusters of excellence, four graduate schools of excellence, and participating in five graduate schools.

2019 - 2026

In the Excellence Strategy research competition run by the German federal and state governments in 2018, five Clusters of Excellence of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have been adopted in total. This successful acquisition considerably strengthens research in the network of Berlin's scientific institutions as well as the science location Berlin.

The Berlin University Alliance has won funding as a group in the Universities of Excellence funding line of the German government’s Excellence Strategy. The four Berlin partners – Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin – submitted a joint proposal entitled Crossing Boundaries toward an Integrated Research Environment.

Goal

The goal of the initiative is to further develop top university research, identify new, forward-looking fields of research, and ensure that research at German institutions is on a firmly competitive footing at the international level. The research performed is not divided into fixed institutional units, but rather is brought together in an interdisciplinary structure with the aim of creating working areas to generate overarching topics having to do with global future developments and for various areas of social, economic, or political importance.