Clusters propel German universities
Science in Germany may be world class but many of the best researchers
are not in the university system. Michael Banks looks at an initiative to
strengthen the country’s universities by creating “clusters of excellence”
The annual publication of a list of
the world’s top universities by the
Times Higher Education newspaper
must make grim reading for researchers in Germany. The list, drawn up in
partnership with education provider
Quacquarelli Symonds, last year included only three German universities in the top 100 – Heidelberg in
57th spot, followed by the Technical
University ( TU) in Munich (78th) and
the Ludwig-Maximilians-University
(LMU), also in Munich, coming in
a lowly 93rd. The US in contrast, has
37 of the top 100 universities, while
the UK boasts 17.
Yet Germany is, of course, a powerhouse in scientific research, publishing more than 100000 papers in
physics each year. One reason for the
relative weakness of the country’s universities is that many top researchers
are attracted to Germany’s 76 Max
Planck Institutes, where staff are well
funded, do not have to teach and can
instead focus fully on research. Scattered across the country, the institutes
are recognized for leading their fields
in basic research in everything from
biophysics to plasma physics.
Other scientists, meanwhile, are
drawn to the Helmholtz Association
of German research centres, which
include world-leading labs such as
DESY in Hamburg and the GSI
heavy-ion facility in Darmstadt. Germany’s research base is further strengthened by the Leibniz Association,
which has a total of 84 institutes, while
the 60 Fraunhofer institutes work on
applied research in association with
German industry. Indeed, such is the
strength of German science that in the
last 10 years five Germans have been
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics,
of whom two – Peter Grünberg (2007)
and Theodor Hänsch (2004) – spent
most of their careers in the country,
but not in the university system.
In an attempt to make Germany’s
universities more competitive internationally, in June the chancellor
Angela Merkel, who is a physicist by
training, unveiled a 718bn 10-year
plan for German science and education. In addition to 77.5bn for the four
national scientific institutions mentioned above between 2011 and 2015,
and a 77.9bn “higher education pact”
Big impact
Ferenc Krausz at the
Max Planck Institute
for Quantum Optics,
which is collaborating
with local universities
on research into
advanced photonics.
We have to
strengthen the
universities.
They are the
centre of
education for
the young and
for the future
of German
science
to help universities and technical
schools recruit more students, the initiative also includes a 72.7bn fund
specifically designed to boost research
at German universities, via what is
known as the “excellence initiative”.
Launched in 2006, the initiative has
so far led to nine universities – including the LMU, TU and Heidelberg –
receiving extra funds in order to create a German-style “Ivy league” and
so push more German universities
into the top 100. The excellence initiative also includes a programme to
create “clusters of excellence” . It gives
cash to universities to not only fund
their own research but to also collaborate with nearby research centres
such as the Max Planck institutes. The
71.9bn programme now incorporates
37 clusters across social science, engineering and the physical sciences.
“The aim was to strengthen very
good universities and departments
that are strong in their field,” says
Klaus Wehrberger, head of the research centres division at the German
Research Foundation (DFG). Successful clusters are chosen for the
originality of their research, the level
of interdisciplinary of that work and
the ability of a university to be able to
create a cluster.
Once a cluster is successful, parti-
Matin Durrani
cipating universities are given all the
cash, which it distributes to the other
partners. Although there are two clusters that feature two universities in
different parts of Germany, most are
formed between universities and research institutes in the same city or
surrounding region. “I think that
being local means that it is easier to
demonstrate that the cluster benefits
the university,” says Wehrberger.
A shining light
One particularly successful cluster
is the Munich-Centre for Advanced
Photonics (MAP) based at Garching,
north of the city. Consisting of four
partners – the LMU, the TU, the Max
Planck Institute for Quantum Optics
and the military’s Bundeswehr University Munich – MAP has about 300
researchers working on everything
from quantum optics and radiological
imaging to quantum information.
The photonics centre receives
about 77m per year in funding, which
has been used to employ seven new
associate professors and two full professors who are based at the three
participating universities. “A substantial fraction, almost 50%, of the
funding went directly or indirectly
into new positions,” says Ferenc
Krausz, a director of the Max Planck
Institute for Quantum Optics and co-director of MAP.
According to Krausz, the cluster is
good for the university groups as they
get the chance to access cutting-edge
equipment at the Max Planck Institute, while the Max Planck Institutes
can use it to attract PhD students
or postdocs. Krausz says that more
than 300 papers have been published
by the cluster, with about 25 of these
appearing in top journals such as
Nature and Science.
Although the clusters of excellence
operate on five-year funding cycles,
some say it makes sense to limit how
long they are supported for so as to
foster competition. However, the German government is now considering
allowing the clusters to be funded for
an extra five years. “The current time
frame of five years is really not long
enough to establish research programmes,” says Wehrberger. “We believe that a 10-year funding period will
be necessary to fully develop the potential of these clusters.”
But for Krausz in Munich even “five
plus five” may still not be enough.
“You have to hire people and then
build the structure in the university
and that needs reforms,” he says. “My
wish would be to fund the clusters for
20 years.”
