What is the Excellence Strategy?
What is the Excellence Strategy?
The Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments, “ExStra” for short, is a funding competition for top-level university research. ExStra aims to strengthen Germany’s scientific standing and improve its international competitiveness. The program is designed to support higher education institutions as they pursue top-level scientific research and to enhance research profiles and scientific cooperation. With a funding volume of €533 million per annum, the Excellence Strategy is a heavyweight among funding programs and an outstanding opportunity for universities to receive financial support and gain prestige.
According to the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat, WR), funding as a University of Excellence means “permanent strengthening of universities as individual institutions or within university consortia” as well as the “development of their international standing in research on the basis of successful clusters of excellence.” Many people may remember the Excellence Strategy’s forerunner, the Excellence Initiative. With only a few differences, the Excellence Strategy is effectively a continuation of that program.
What will be announced on 19 July?
The competition will take place in 2 phases, known as “funding lines.” In 2018, clusters of excellence to be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) were chosen. Universität Hamburg was awarded grants for 4 clusters of excellence—a great success for our university!
On 19 July, the decision about the second funding line, the naming of Universities of Excellence, will be announced. Universities granted 2 or more clusters of excellence in the first phase of the competition were eligible to submit proposals in December 2018 to become Universities of Excellence. A few universities, including, for example, those in Berlin, formed university consortia for their proposal submissions. Universität Hamburg is among the 17 eligible universities and 2 university consortia that have submitted proposals to become Universities of Excellence.
In total, there will be about €148 million in funding annually to be distributed among the 11 universities and university consortia chosen. The funding will continue through to 2026. At that point all Universities of Excellence will be re-evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the grant will be extended for at least 7 more years.
What are clusters of excellence?
Clusters of excellence are interdisciplinary research collaborations in which scientists and scholars work together on especially relevant related topics. A cluster of excellence includes 3 spokespersons, numerous members of the universities applying for funding, and researchers and scholars from other universities or non-university research institutions.
If a university is granted a cluster of excellence, it may receive funding of up to €10 million over 7 years for top-level research.
In September 2018, Universität Hamburg was granted 4 new clusters of excellence with funding to begin in 2019.
Who decides which universities can compete to become Universities of Excellence and what are the criteria?
The German Research Foundation (DFG) was responsible for developing and seeing through the clusters of excellence funding line. The German Council of Science and Humanities (WR) is responsible for the Universities of Excellence funding line. This included a review of participating universities, including an on-site visit.
According to the WR, reviewers focused especially on “the coherence of the institutions’ overall profile against the backdrop of the respective institution’s or consortium’s starting conditions as well as on their academic performance” and on “the quality of planning and preliminary work based on the status quo and the overall strategy’s potential.” Based on these reviews, a committee of 39 academic scholars, the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek (with 16 votes) and the Ministers of Science of the 16 Federal States (each with 1 vote), will make their decision on 19 July.
How does success in the Excellence Strategy benefit the University?
Each University of Excellence receives a grant of up to €15 million per year, in addition to its current budget. In their proposals, the universities were required to provide specific details of how the funding would be spent. Universität Hamburg’s proposal lists 24 binding measures. Among them are postdoctoral scholarships; 2 professorships; a coordinator position for a Liberal Arts degree program; an Ideas and Venture Fund to promote the spirit of discovery at the University; and outgoing scholarships to support students, research associates, and doctoral students during their studies or research abroad.
The entire University would profit immensely from all 24 of these measures. The acquisition of 4 new clusters of excellence has meant that Universität Hamburg can continue to conduct world-class research on 4 major issues until 2025. Because almost all of our faculties are involved in the clusters of excellence, funding benefits the entire University.