Excellence Initiative - The Framework
Aims of the Excellence Initiative
With the Excellence Initiative, the German federal and state governments promote top-level research at German universities. The Excellence Initiative
- supports the universities’ top-level research and increases their international visibility;
- creates excellent conditions for young researchers at the universities;
- deepens the cooperation between disciplines and institutions;
- strengthens the international networking of research;
- encourages equality between men and women in science;
- intensifies academic competition in Germany and improves the quality of the centres of research in general.
Complete Programme
The Excellence Initiative is run by the German Research Foundation (DFG) together with the German Council of Science and Humanities. It comprises three funding lines:
Graduate Schools
Graduate schools have a substantial share both in developing internationally competitive and top-level research centres of scientific excellence in Germany and in increasing their prestige. As an instrument of quality assurance in promoting young researchers, they serve the principle of providing doctoral training to outstanding students within an excellent research environment. Thus, graduate schools offer ideal conditions for graduation within a broad scientific area and, being internationally visible and integrative institutions, support the identification of the doctoral students with their respective environment. In this, the graduate schools go far beyond the research training groups, and they are substantially different from these.
Clusters of Excellence
With the clusters of excellence, internationally visible and competitive research and training facilities will be established at German university locations, thus facilitating scientifically important networking and cooperation. The clusters of excellence are intended to be an essential element in a university’s strategic and thematic planning, to considerably raise its profile and to call for the establishing of priorities. In addition, they are to create excellent promotion and career conditions for young researchers. Together with the graduate schools and the institutional strategies to promote top-level university research, the clusters of excellence have their share in strengthening the attractiveness of Germany as a research location in the long term and in improving its international competitiveness.
Institutional Strategies to Promote Top-Level University Research
The institutional strategies funding line strengthens German universities as institutions so that they may establish themselves at the top level of the international scientific competition. With its institutional strategy, a university develops a long-term game plan for top-level research and the promotion of young researchers. The institutional strategy takes the university’s specific situation and its demands into account and focuses on the institution as a whole.
Contacts
Helga Soer-SodmannDep. 6.6
Schlossplatz 4
48149 Münster
Tel.: +49 251 83-21470
Fax: +49 251 83-21472
