In December, the German Federal Minister of Education and Science Annette Schavan and the State Minister Doris Ahnen (Rheinland-Pfalz) announced the results of a competition for EUR 400 million of federal funding to be provided until 2016 for the “improvement of student services and quality of teaching” at German higher education institutions. This was the second round of a so-called Quality Pact for Teaching (Qualitaetspakt Lehre) launched by the federal government (Bund) and the regions (Länder) in the framework of the overarching Hochschulpakt 2020 initiative.

Together with 111 successful applicants from the first round in May, 102 winning higher education institutions (40 universities, 43 universities of applied sciences and 19 art and music schools) will now benefit from the Pact and will be entitled to EUR 1 billion of federal funding through 2016. By 2020, a total of EUR 2 billion will be invested federally to improve teaching quality, which is becoming particularly important in light of unprecedented growth in student admissions in Germany (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, October 2011). One of the projects’ focus areas is the support and tutoring of students during their first semester at university or in other educational institutions.

Federal Ministry of Education and Science (in German)