The 'Excellence in Science' competition (Exzellenzinitiative), which began in 2006, has entered a new phase. The idea for the program belonged to former Education Minister Edelgard Bulmahn. The government decided to support the best German universities and help them compete with world-renowned university centers.
During the competition, winners are selected in three areas: graduate schools (Graduiertenschulen), research clusters that go beyond a single university (Exzellenzcluster), and concepts for advancing a university to international standing in research. Universities are recognized as elite if they have at least one winning project in all three categories.
In the first phase of the competition, 9 universities in the country were already named elite. But winning the competition is not only a flattering title, but also very substantial subsidies allocated to universities from the federal and state budgets for the next five years. For example, in the first phase of the competition, 1.9 billion euros were allocated for the development of science and another 6 million for expanding the network of 'excellent education'. These substantial financial injections allowed universities to open thousands of new positions for doctoral students and professors.
The new phase of the program will bring the winning universities 2.7 billion euros. Apparently, this amount and the great opportunities inspired not only the 9 universities already bearing the elite title to participate in the competition, but also 22 other German universities.
Interestingly, 4 of the 9 current 'elite' universities are located in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg (the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg, Konstanz, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), and this trend will likely continue. 'Today, it's important not only what you study at a university, but also where you study,' said Baden-Württemberg's Education Minister Peter Frankenberg. 'At an 'elite' university, a student will benefit from a larger number of professors and lecturers and the opportunity to quickly obtain a place in graduate school themselves.'
As reported by 'Russkaya Germaniya', the final decision in this competition will be made in June of next year, and the lucky winners can count on state subsidies for student education and research development until 2017.