The state government wants to reach for a third university of excellence for the Free State. The so-called excellence strategy, the competition between the federal and state governments to promote cutting-edge research, is the “supreme discipline,” said Science Minister Markus Blume (CSU) on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting. “Our claim is clear: we want to be part of this race.” Blume presented the current state of affairs to the Council of Ministers, which focused on science. In addition to the two existing excellence universities in Munich, the Ludwig-Maximilians-University and the Technical University (LMU and TUM), they want to get hold of “at least” another elite location that has received such an award. Best in Northern Bavaria.
The Excellence Strategy, which was formerly called the Excellence Initiative and was first launched almost two decades ago, is divided into two parts. In 2025, the next decision will be made as to which major research projects (so-called clusters of excellence) at German universities or in associations of universities will continue to be funded or will be newly funded. Nationwide, 57 clusters are currently receiving millions in funding, including projects in Bayreuth and Würzburg in Bavaria, apart from Munich. In 2026, the Universities of Excellence will be nominated, with one or usually even two clusters at the location being the prerequisite for this.
A total of 26 drafts from Bavarian universities were submitted in the first stage, the application round for clusters, “of some outstanding quality,” reported Blume after the deliberations in the cabinet of Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). Extensive assessment processes are now pending until the decision is made in 2025. “We want to bring more excellence clusters to Bavaria.” Anyone who then has this “ticket” can also enter the struggle for excellence status for the entire university. There are currently eleven across Germany who are allowed to wear this elite title.
Blume had already stated the goal of an additional university of excellence for Bavaria in his government statement in April: “In Bavaria, elite is not a swear word, but recognition.” The institutions are supported in the cluster application, “where we can, because that is the prerequisite for remaining or becoming a university of excellence”. It is important to keep the two Munich awards. And you just want another top facility for northern Bavaria. Thanks to the high-tech agenda of the state government, which among other things is intended to strengthen the local institutions in the fight for sought-after professors, the Franconian universities have “an excellent starting position”, explained Blume at the time. However, the excellence competition is by no means only aimed at technical disciplines. The one in Bayreuth is dedicated to African Studies, for example among the current funding for clusters. It is not uncommon for funded research priorities to be interdisciplinary.
The science minister reported further news from the cabinet. The construction of the new Technical University in Nuremberg, according to Blume a “project of the century”, is now to be accelerated according to a decision: A first master’s course in attendance will start as early as the coming winter semester, the topic of artificial intelligence; other subjects will also be “rolled out earlier” than previously planned. When setting up the faculties, additional areas are “on the fast track” and the most important key positions have now been filled.
In addition, Bavaria is launching a future program called “Highmed-Agenda”. According to the cabinet report, it is intended to shape “a new era of top medical care” in a manner comparable to the high-tech agenda – and, for example, to bring scientific findings more quickly into application with patients. A strategic alliance for university medicine is also being established, the medical faculties of the LMU and TUM, the Munich University Clinics and the Helmholtz Center in the state capital are to be visible under one umbrella brand in the future.
A network of the four university hospitals in Würzburg, Erlangen, Regensburg and Augsburg will in turn become the new location of the National Center for Tumor Diseases of the German Cancer Research Center. From next year onwards, the Free State, together with the federal government, will promote clinic cooperation, it said. State-of-the-art cancer diagnostics and therapy are available for eight million people in the supply area of the four partner clinics.