The University of Konstanz is one of eleven universities or university consortia that will receive funding as Universities of Excellence in Germany. With its overall concept “University of Konstanz – creative.together” and with its two new Clusters of Excellence “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies“, it is successful in both funding lines of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.
The Excellence Strategy is the follow-up programme to the Excellence Initiative and is coordinated by both the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR). The goal of the Excellence Strategy is to continue to develop and enhance Germany as an international research location and to strengthen its international competitiveness. Furthermore, successful projects initiated during the Excellence Initiative are to be provided a long-term perspective.
The Excellence Strategy includes two funding lines:
- Clusters of Excellence that carry out research projects in internationally competitive research fields at individual universities or through university consortia.
- Universities of Excellence for the sustained support of universities as they continue to develop top-level international research. The prerequisite for being designated as a University of Excellence are at least two established Clusters of Excellence.
Overview
The two Clusters of Excellence “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” and “The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies“ were approved on 27 September 2018 and have been funded since 1 January 2019. Its success in the Clusters of Excellence funding line qualified the University of Konstanz to also compete in the Universities of Excellence funding line. On 10 December 2018, an application based on the concept “University of Konstanz - creative.together” was submitted and subsequently approved by the Excellence Commission on 19 July 2019. Funding started 1 November 2019.