Almost 300 Draft Proposals Received

Universities Vie for Funding Under the Excellence Initiative

As the German universities hurried to submit their proposals before the September 30 midnight deadline, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) made preparations to handle last-minute submissions: the reception desk was open until after midnight, and employees were assigned extra shifts to handle the boxes that had started to pile up in front of the door. The deadline for draft proposals under the Excellence Initiative had arrived.

Having received approximately 400 letters of intent from the universities by the end of July, expectations were high as to the number of draft proposals. Now draft proposals for a total of 157 clusters of excellence and 135 graduate schools are stacked on long tables. Almost every German university, from Aachen to Dresden and from Kiel to Passau, is represented. The first review has already shown that the extent of interdisciplinary cooperation fully meets, and even exceeds, the programme requirements. Within this framework, the large scientific disciplines, the humanities and social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences and engineering, are all more or less equally represented. DFG President Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker is very pleased about the high participation from the humanities and social sciences. Despite the time constraints, there is an atmosphere of optimism, even euphoria, at all the universities. For the underfunded and structurally constrained universities the signal came just in time.

"Would you hand me the Technical University of Munich? Are you on Mannheim now?" This and more of the same could be heard as the draft proposals were reviewed, sorted, and categorised. By the end of next week they will be sent to the 20 multinational peer review panels, which will assess the proposals at meetings between 15 November and 18 December. Based on the outcome of these meetings, the Joint Commission of the DFG and the German Science Council will meet at the end of January to decide for which programmes the universities will be requested to submit detailed proposals. About 35 to 40 proposals for clusters of excellence and about 50 to 60 graduate schools will be preselected in the initial stage of the two-stage selection process.

The submission deadline for proposals is planned for 20 April 2006. The assessments will be completed next summer, and the funding decisions for the first round will be announced at the end of October 2006. Approximately 20 graduate schools and 15 clusters of excellence will be funded, as well as an as yet unknown number of institutional strategies. A total of EUR190 million will be available for this initiative annually.

On average, the clusters of excellence will each receive EUR6.5 million annually, plus a 20% supplement to cover indirect costs; the graduate schools will receive EUR1 million plus 20%.

The Excellence Initiative was finalised on 23 June 2005, following lengthy negotiations between the federal and state governments. Funding in the initiative will amount to EUR1.9 billion between 2006 and 2011. With this programme, the federal and state governments will fund the expansion of top university research in three funding categories: graduate schools, clusters of excellence and institutional strategies for universities. The aim is to boost German universities to world-class status.

For further information on the initiative:
Dr. Beate Konze-Thomas
Department Head
Coordinated Programmes and Infrastructure
tel.: +49 (0)228/885-2254
email: beate.konze-thomas@dfg.de

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	Almost 300 Draft Proposals Received Universities Vie for Funding Under the Excellence Initiative As the German universities hurried to submit their proposals before the September 30 midnight deadline, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) made preparations to handle last-minute submissions: the reception desk was open until after midnight, and employees were assigned extra shifts to handle the boxes that had started to pile up in front of the door. The deadline for draft proposals under the Excellence Initiative had arrived. Having received approximately 400 letters of intent from the universities by the end of July, expectations were high as to the number of draft proposals. Now draft proposals for a total of 157 clusters of excellence and 135 graduate schools are stacked on long tables. Almost every German university, from Aachen to Dresden and from Kiel to Passau, is represented. The first review has already shown that the extent of interdisciplinary cooperation fully meets, and even exceeds, the programme requirements. Within this framework, the large scientific disciplines, the humanities and social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences and engineering, are all more or less equally represented. DFG President Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker is very pleased about the high participation from the humanities and social sciences. Despite the time constraints, there is an atmosphere of optimism, even euphoria, at all the universities. For the underfunded and structurally constrained universities the signal came just in time. "Would you hand me the Technical University of Munich? Are you on Mannheim now?" This and more of the same could be heard as the draft proposals were reviewed, sorted, and categorised. By the end of next week they will be sent to the 20 multinational peer review panels, which will assess the proposals at meetings between 15 November and 18 December. Based on the outcome of these meetings, the Joint Commission of the DFG and the German Science Council will meet at the end of January to decide for which programmes the universities will be requested to submit detailed proposals. About 35 to 40 proposals for clusters of excellence and about 50 to 60 graduate schools will be preselected in the initial stage of the two-stage selection process. The submission deadline for proposals is planned for 20 April 2006. The assessments will be completed next summer, and the funding decisions for the first round will be announced at the end of October 2006. Approximately 20 graduate schools and 15 clusters of excellence will be funded, as well as an as yet unknown number of institutional strategies. A total of EUR190 million will be available for this initiative annually. On average, the clusters of excellence will each receive EUR6.5 million annually, plus a 20% supplement to cover indirect costs; the graduate schools will receive EUR1 million plus 20%. The Excellence Initiative was finalised on 23 June 2005, following lengthy negotiations between the federal and state governments. Funding in the initiative will amount to EUR1.9 billion between 2006 and 2011. With this programme, the federal and state governments will fund the expansion of top university research in three funding categories: graduate schools, clusters of excellence and institutional strategies for universities. The aim is to boost German universities to world-class status. For further information on the initiative: Dr. Beate Konze-Thomas Department Head Coordinated Programmes and Infrastructure tel.: +49 (0)228/885-2254 email: beate.konze-thomas@dfg.de	Print page Back