Driving excellence
Although it was launched in 2006, in
fact the 71.9bn cluster of excellence
programme grew out of an earlier “
research centres” programme launched
in 2001 by the DFG to make internationally visible research groups at
universities and to fund them with
about 75m per year. One project that
emerged from this is the Centre for
Functional Nanostructures (CFN) in
Karlsruhe, which is a collaboration is
between the University of Karlsruhe
and the Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe.
Having run for eight years, it now supports about 250 scientists, including
47 professors or group leaders, who
together work on over 90 research
projects in areas like nanophotonics,
nanoelectronics and nanomaterials.
According to physicist Gerd Schön
at the CFN, nearly 80% of the research carried out at the centre is
done by groups at the university, with
the remainder done at the Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe. “I would say that
the cluster has increased collaboration between groups quite substantially,” says Schön. “We have seen a
significant number of joint publications between the university and the
Forschungzentrum, and about a quarter of published papers between different groups within the university.”
Moving east?
But two decades after the fall of the
Berlin Wall, which led in 1990 to the
reunification of Germany, the bigger
question is whether the universities in
former East Germany have been improved as a result of programmes like
the excellence initiative. Research has
certainly been boosted by the creation
of Max Planck Institutes in the east,
with Dresden, Berlin and Leipzig
each receiving three institutes within
the last 15 years. But although Wehrberger says that there is no selection
bias when picking the clusters that are
funded, the clusters of excellence
initiative has so far favoured universities in the west, with only five of the
37 clusters being in the east.
“The lower concentration is eastern
Germany is not really unexpected,”
says Wehrberger. “They know that
they have to do more to get a good
foundation, upon which they can form
clusters of excellence.” For him, the
key is to strengthen Germany’s universities wherever they are. “We have
to strengthen the universities. They
are the centre of education for the
young and for the future of German
science,” he says.
The 2009 list of the world’s top 100
universities, due out this month, is
sure to make interesting reading.
Research ethics
Germany in ‘cash for PhDs’ scandal
German prosecutors are continuing
to investigate about 100 professors
suspected of taking cash bribes to help
students obtain doctoral degrees – a
national academic scandal that research minister Annette Schavan has
said could tarnish Germany’s international reputation in science.
News of the investigation broke
in the German press in late August
during the general-election campaign,
triggering calls for stricter academic
controls in a nation where the title
“Doktor” can greatly improve careers.
However, Carolin Breloer, a prosecutor in Cologne, told Physics World
that none of the professors under
investigation had supervised candidates for PhDs in physics.
The problem came to prosecutors’
attention during a court case last year
involving the Institute for Academic
Consultancy, a Cologne-based firm
that charged potential doctoral candidates up to 720 000 for advice in
selecting dissertation topics and supervisors. Such services are not illegal, but officials at the 20-year-old
company may have crossed the line
by paying participating professors
between 72000 and 75000 for each
client they accepted for supervision.
In some cases, the weak academic records of clients would have made it
difficult for them to be accepted into
doctoral programmes, Breloer says.
After the authorities confiscated
files and computers at the firm in
March 2008, both the consultancy’s
managing director and a University of
Hanover law professor – who was
adjudged to have been paid about
7184000 in bribes for accepting
dozens of doctoral candidates – re-
ceived prison sentences for bribery.
Charges against other academics in-
volved in the scheme may follow,
Breloer says, because the supervision
of dissertations for doctoral degrees
is considered a public service in Ger-
many, so professors paid outside
money for the service can be crim-
inally charged with bribery.
Potential punishments for aca-
demics who either plead guilty to
avoid court proceedings or are con-
victed in court will depend on the
severity of their crimes and their
cooperation in the investigation, she
says, noting that some “more diffi-
Cash in hand
German prosecutors
are investigating
100 professors
accused of taking
bribes to accept
doctoral students.
Lawrence Lawry/Science Photo Library
cult” cases are likely to drag on for at
least another year. Prosecutors do
not, however, expect to file criminal
charges against doctoral candidates,
because there is currently no evidence
that the people involved were aware
that the consultancy service was bribing professors on their behalf.
The 100 academics work in various
disciplines, including natural sciences,
but only a few are full professors with
tenured positions. Breloer, citing Germany’s strict privacy laws, declined to
provide further details about the professors or to name the universities involved. However, the daily newspaper
Neue Westfälische reported that the
universities allegedly affected are in
Bayreuth, Berlin, Bielefeld, Cologne,
Frankfurt, Hagen, Hamburg, Hannover, Ingolstadt, Jena, Leipzig, Tü-bingen and Rostock.
Gunnar Berg, secretary for natural
sciences at the German Academy of
Sciences Leopoldina, told Physics
World that news of the investigation
will no doubt harm Germany’s international reputation, but not irreparably. “Colleagues around the world
who are familiar with Germany’s institutes and labs will know that the investigation is an exception and does not
reflect the whole system,” says Berg.
Nonetheless, he believes any professor convicted of accepting bribes
should be subject to disciplinary proceedings by their university with the
possibility of losing their academic position. “There must be consequences
to show outsiders that the great majority of the scientific community cannot
accept such behaviour,” he says.
Ned Stafford
Hamburg
