Readers of  ACA Newsletter - Education Europe will recall that the Germany’s federal and state governments had, after a long struggle, finally adopted a package with extra funding worth 1.9 billion EUR (until 2011) for fostering excellence in German higher education in the second half of 2005. Once in full swing, this scheme will provide money for 10 ‘elite universities’, 30 ‘clusters of excellence’ and 40 ‘graduate schools’.

In a first application round, a total of 357 applications were received, of which 27 for ‘elite universities’, 157 for ‘cluster of excellence’ and 135 for ‘graduate schools’. In a recent pre-selection, 10 universities were short-listed for the’ status of ‘elite universities’. A shortlist of 39 ‘graduate schools’ and 41 ‘clusters of excellence’ was also prepared. The short-listed applicants must now submit full proposals.

Especially in the high-visibility contest for ‘elite universities’, a clear regional pattern emerges. Seven of the ten short-listed universities are from the southern states Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Not a single institution from East Germany made it onto the prestigious list. Across the three funding lines, though, the leader so far is the Technical University of Aachen.