Earlier this month, Germany approved €18 billion ($25 billion) in new funding for research and higher education. The Excellence Initiative received €2.7 billion over nine years. First formed in 2006, the Excellence Initiative was created to develop internationally recognized German universities and currently includes eight schools. The second phase of the country’s Higher Education Pact, designed to provided funding to increase student enrollment, received €7.9 billion for 2011 through 2015. The Pact for Research and Innovation gained €7.5 billion for the 2011 to 2015 period. The Pact funds the Fraunhofer Society, the Helmholtz Association, the Leibniz Association and the Max Planck Society as part of an effort to increase each institution’s budget by 5% a year.

Source: Chemistry World