Last week, state and federal science ministers of research, education and finance at the Joint Science Conference announced that Germany has indefinitely extended the Excellence Initiative, the country’s program to accelerate research at German universities. Research and Education Minister Johanna Wanka stated that top German universities are to receive annual bonuses of at least €10 million ($11.3 million) for extra funding. So far, €4.6 billion has been spent on the Initiative, and a redesign of the program is currently in the works. The restructuring will cost €533 million each year and contains two categories for funding: an Excellence Cluster, in which 45–50 groups of researchers at a single university or from various institutions can apply to receive €3–€10 million each year, with an additional €1 million given to the institution hosting them in 2017; and an Excellence University, which is a university hosting a minimum of two Excellence Clusters. Eight to ten institutions will be chosen as Excellence Universities and will receive €10–€15 million annually in extra funding from 2019 onward.

Source: Science