The German Research Foundation (DFG) presented the “Funding Atlas 2021” on Tuesday together with the University Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the Stifterverband (SV). The report, which has been published every three years since 1997, provides figures on publicly funded research in Germany and provides information on research funding from third-party funds in the period from 2017 to 2019.
For the first time, the Funding Atlas also subdivides the third-party funds acquired by federal state. Most of the around 9.48 billion euros approved by the DFG from 2017 to 2019 went to North Rhine-Westphalia (1.83 billion euros), followed by Baden-Württemberg (1.60 billion euros) and Bavaria (1.46 billion euros Euro). In the upper midfield were Berlin (839 million), Lower Saxony (791 million), Hesse (636 million) and Saxony (600 million). It was followed by Rhineland-Palatinate (304 million), Hamburg (297 million), Schleswig-Holstein (221 million), Thuringia (204 million), Bremen (201 million) and Saxony-Anhalt (160 million). The bottom lights were Brandenburg (141 million), Saarland (103 million) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (98 million).
In terms of regions, the Atlas Berlin led the way with third-party funding of 839 million euros, closely followed by the Munich region with 816 million euros. The Lower Neckar region (Heidelberg and Mannheim) achieved third place with 432 million euros.
Hardly any change in the university landscape
In the ranking lists of DFG approvals according to universities and scientific areas, the current atlas shows only a few changes compared to previous surveys. “So we are still seeing a high level of stability in the university system and not the sometimes presumed cut-throat competition,” said DFG President, Professor Katja Becker. Almost 100 universities of applied sciences (HAW) are among the 225 universities that have acquired DFG funding.
For the first time, according to the report, both Munich universities topped the list of third-party universities. In first place in the atlas was again the LMU Munich (369 million euros), now followed by the Technical University of Munich (347 million euros) and the University of Heidelberg (332 million euros). The other top positions were taken by RWTH Aachen University, TU Dresden, FU Berlin and the universities in Tübingen, Cologne, Freiburg and Erlangen-Nuremberg. The universities in Bochum (from 22 to 18), Duisburg-Essen (from 31 to 23), Ulm (from 38 to 33) and Giessen (from 39 to 34) have also improved noticeably in the ranking.
In the humanities and social sciences, the Free University of Berlin and the LMU Munich raised the most funds, followed by the University of Tübingen, the HU Berlin and the University of Frankfurt / Main. In the life sciences, the LMU Munich, the universities of Heidelberg, Freiburg, Göttingen and the TU Munich were ahead, in the natural sciences the universities of Heidelberg, the TU Munich, the Karlsruhe KIT and the universities of Mainz and Bonn. In engineering, most of the DFG funds went to RWTH Aachen University, followed by the University of Stuttgart, the TU Dresden, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the TU Darmstadt.
In relation to the number of professors and their specialist profile, the University of Konstanz received the most DFG funding, followed by the University of Mannheim. A total of 29 universities acquired more third-party funding than their size and professorial profile would suggest.
More third-party funding from the federal government, less from industry
Almost every fifth research project funded by the DFG was carried out with at least one international participation, most often in cooperation with partners in the USA, China, Australia, Canada and Israel. Most of the European cooperation partners are from France, Switzerland, Austria and Great Britain as well as the Czech Republic and Poland.
After the share of third-party funding in total university funding rose for a long time and reached a peak of 28.1 percent in 2013, it has been largely stable since then. According to the atlas, the proportion of third-party funding in 2019 was 26.9 percent. In contrast, the increase in basic state funds has continued over the past few years. In total, universities in Germany received around 23.7 billion euros in basic funding and 8.7 billion euros in third-party funding in 2019. Most of the third-party funding continued to come from the DFG with 31.5 percent. The share of the federal government, which was 22 percent in 2010, has now risen to 29 percent. Around 10 percent of all third-party funding came from the EU. Third-party funds from industry and business have fallen further to 17 percent.
A special chapter of the atlas is devoted to the funding granted between 1921 and 1945 by the predecessor organization of the DFG, the “Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft”. At that time, research and funding were heavily focused on Berlin, whereas today’s federal states, which are strong in research, did not appear much. A second special chapter analyzed the gradual integration of earlier GDR research after reunification on the basis of DFG funding. Today the project volume of the East German federal states at the DFG corresponds almost exactly to their share of the population.
According to the announcement, tens of thousands of data from all major public research funding agencies in Germany and the European Union have been incorporated into the 156-page atlas. The full report as well as detailed tables and interactive overviews of the atlas figures are available can be viewed online.
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