Excellence Initiative

With the Excellence Initiative, the Federal Government and the Länder support outstanding research at universities in Germany. The Excellence Initiative

_  promotes top-level research at universities, raising their international profile,

_  creates excellent conditions for young researchers at universities,

_  deepens cooperations between disciplines and institutions,

_  strengthens international networking in the research sector,

_  promotes gender equality in science,

_  intensifies the scientific competition in Germany and enhances the overall quality of Germany as a science location.

The Excellence Initiative is implemented jointly by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Wissenschaftsrat. It comprises three funding lines:

1. Graduate Schools to promote young academics,

2. Clusters of Excellence to promote top-level research,

3. Institutional Strategies in the form of projects in support of top-level research at universities.

The Wissenschaftsrat is in charge of the third funding line, while the DFG is responsible for the other two. For the 1st programme phase, € 1.9 bn. of funding through all three funding lines was approved after two calls for proposals in 2006 and 2007. These financial resources are available to the successful universities and their partner institutions for research and the advancement of junior researchers till 2012.

On 4 June 2009 the heads of the Federal and Länder governments decided to continue the Excellence Initiative for the years 2012 to 2017, allocating a total funding volume of € 2.7 bn. The programme structure with its three funding lines will be maintained. The call for proposals for this second programme phase went out on 12 March 2010. The selection of draft proposals took place on 2 March 2011.

The funding decisions are going to be finalised in June 2012.

The DFG and the Wissenschaftsrat have formed a Joint Commission made up of the DFG Expert Commission and the Strategy Commission of the Wissenschaftsrat.

Members of the Joint Commission

The funding decisions are adopted by the Approval Committee of the Excellence Initiative, which includes the members of the Joint Commission and the Federal and Länder ministers of science. The researchers from the Joint Commission have the majority of the votes in the Approval Committee.

Commissions of the Excellence Initiative