The University of Konstanz has been funded in all three funding lines of the Excellence Initiative starting in 2007 and ending on 31 October 2019, when the programme expired. Only six universities nationwide have been consistently recognized as Universities of Excellence since 2007. It was successful as early as 2006, when its Cluster of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Social Integration” was recognized. In 2007, the university was able to reassert its claim to excellence when the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology and the Institutional Strategy to Promote Top-Level Research, “Modell Konstanz – Towards a Culture of Creativity”, were approved. In the second round of the Excellence Initiative in 2012, the university could extend all previously accepted programmes, including its Institutional Strategy, and even add another graduate school, the Graduate School of Decision Sciences, thus further strengthening its position as a top-level research institution.
Starting on 1 November 2019, the University of Konstanz will receive funding as one of eleven universities or university consortia that will receive funding as Universities of Excellence in the follow-up programme, the Excellence Strategy. Its two new Clusters of Excellence “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies“ commenced their work in the context of the Excellence Strategy on 1 January 2019.
Background
The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities have administered the Excellence Initiative since 2006 until October 2019. The goal was to promote top-level research and to strengthen Germany as an internationally competitive research location. This overall objective continues to be pursued and further developed in the context of the follow-up programme, the Excellence Strategy.
The Excellence Initiative had three funding lines:
- Graduate schools were designed to train doctoral students while offering the best conditions within a research field, including excellent academic supervision.
- Clusters of Excellence supported and promoted scientific research in socially or economically relevant subjects. Several researchers worked together on projects and exchange ideas on relevant topics.
- Institutional strategies guided the long-term development of the university. This included the strategic expansion of top-level research in certain areas.
The University of Konstanz in the Excellence Strategy
The University of Konstanz is successful in both funding lines of the Excellence Strategy. Since 1 January 2019, it has received funding for two new Konstanz-based Clusters of Excellence, the “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality:Perceptions, Participation and Policies”. On 19 July 2019, it was selected as one of eleven universities or university consortia that will receive funding as Universities of Excellence by the Excellence Commission, funding commences on 1 November 2019. Only six universities nationwide have been consistently recognized as Universities of Excellence since 2007.
More detailed information about the Excellence Strategy at the University of Konstanz is available here: “About the Excellence Strategy”.