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Programme Monitoring
Having been conceived as a learning programme, ExStra is continuously monitored. The Committee of Experts regularly submits a report to the Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz (GWK, Joint Science Conference) (initially in June 2027) on its experiences with the Clusters of Excellence and the Universities of Excellence funding lines. On this basis, the German federal and state governments discuss the impact of the programme as well as possible needs for adjustments.
The programme monitoring reflects on the implementation of both funding lines with regard to strengths, challenges and potentials in the performance areas of research, teaching, research infrastructures and transfer. It also looks at topics such as staff development, equal opportunity and diversity as well as governance and internationalisation. Elements of programme monitoring include surveys and a regular exchange with the funded universities and university consortia in order to prepare the report on the basis of reliable information. The report includes observations from the implementation of the programme and its funding lines, progress and results, as well as recommendations.
Further, various formats are established to encourage exchange and networking among the universities. These may include the sharing of experiences and information with the wider higher education system in Germany and thus beyond the circle of funded universities and university consortia. One example of this was an international roundtable organised by the Wissenschaftsrat (WR, German Science and Humanities Council) in December 2022, which convened international experts discussing institutional cooperation of universities within the context of the funding of excellence.
As part of the programme monitoring, regular meetings are held between the WR Head Office and the administrative staff at the Universities of Excellence. The goal of those meetings is to gather information on the implementation of the measures and the development of all performance areas and individual areas of activity. In addition, the WR Head Office is a guest at the annual status meetings held by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Federal Ministry of Education and Research), in which the funded universities report on the implementation and use of funds.
Programme support also includes regular reporting to the members of the German Science and Humanities Council and the Joint Science Conference as well as public relations work and information about the programme to anyone interested from Germany and abroad.