This year, eleven German universities were chosen to receive
€2,7 billion in extra funding until 2017 as part of the "Exzellenz
Initiative". A report by the Social Science Research Center
Berlin criticizes that the program did not realize the expected
impact. Instead of creating greater diversity and distinct
profiles, many universities would focus too much on research.
Press statement
The Excellence Initiative has not reached its goal: Universities
have barely managed to sharpen their profiles and develop their
distinguishing characteristics. A team led by WZB researcher Dagmar
Simon came to this conclusion. In the most recent WZBrief Bildung,
the scholars explain that the political demands on and support of
the process of developing institutional profiles does not lead to
intentional differentiation, but rather to a structural
equalization of the universities.
Research over education
The researchers refer to existing qualities that were capable of
being built upon - for example knowledge transfer, creative course
offerings or the promotion of young scholars. The one-sided
concentration on establishing interdisciplinary and interuniversity
research corresponds to the usual reputation hierarchy in the
sciences: Of all the university tasks, (basic) research is of
highest priority for almost all professors. No university in
Germany can get around that, if the formation of a profile is to be
driven forward.
The WZBrief Bildung is based on the study "Status and
Developmental Perspectives of Research at Institutions of Higher
Education in Germany." Administrators from 14 representative,
select universities were questioned in interviews. Furthermore,
almost 2,500 professors responded to a questionnaire. WZB project
partners were the Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, the
Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung, the
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and Joanneum Research
GmbH in Vienna.