Extra funding for 43 German universities
The federal and state governments are investing an additional 539 million euros a year in cutting-edge research. Bär: “Germany is on a very promising path.”
Bonn (dpa/d.de) – A large proportion of Germany’s 109 universities can look forward to substantial additional funding over the next seven years. Under the so-called Excellence Strategy, projects at 43 universities in 13 federal states have been selected for extra funding, Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär and the Joint Science Conference of the federal and state governments announced yesterday in Bonn.
“The consistently high quality of the proposals submitted shows that cutting-edge research in Germany is on a very promising path,” said Bär.
Specifically, the funding will go towards special research projects known as Clusters of Excellence. These may be projects run by individual universities or joint initiatives involving several institutions – including partnerships with external research organisations. A total of 539 million euros per year will be made available for 70 Clusters of Excellence from 2026 onwards.
47 universities submitted 98 funding proposals. The stakes are even higher for the universities: those that secure at least two clusters, or are involved in a consortium of at least three, are eligible for the title of “University of Excellence” – which comes with an additional 10 to 15 million euros in annual funding.