News Detail

The top placement of the University of Konstanz in a comparison of external funding obtained from the German Research Foundation (DFG) was confirmed in the current DFG Funding Atlas. In funding obtained per-capita of all academic staff (including professors), the University of Konstanz climbed one position to first place nationally. Calculated on the basis of professors alone, the University of Konstanz’s per-capita external funding rate ranked second only to the University of Freiburg. Funding obtained in the context of the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments for the university’s Institutional Strategy to Promote Top-Level Research was excluded from the calculations. The authors of the Funding Atlas use this fact to underscore the “exceptional ranking” of the University of Konstanz as well as the outstanding achievements of its researchers. The University of Konstanz is one of only six universities in Germany to have received funding in all three funding lines of the German Excellence Initiative since its start in 2007. In the ranking on the basis of the absolute funding amounts that were approved, which does not account for the institutional size and amount of professors, the University of Konstanz again placed 23rd nationally – an excellent result.

“The DFG’s decision to rank the funding sum in absolute terms as well as in relation to the number of supported persons made it possible to highlight our university’s extraordinary achievements in obtaining external funding, starting with the 2015 Funding Atlas. As a medium-sized university, this ranking confirms the exceptional position of our researchers, including the early career researchers who are especially strong in Konstanz. We are also particularly delighted with the new national best ranking in the area of the humanities and social sciences”, states Professor Dr Ulrich Rüdiger, Rector of the University of Konstanz. “It really demonstrates the broad spectrum of research excellence at our university that we ranked first in the nation in both the humanities and social sciences fields as well as in the life sciences, based on funding obtained per-capita of all academic staff”, Rüdiger concludes.

In the humanities and social sciences, the University of Konstanz moved up one position since the last ranking to first place, both in the per-capita funding of all academic staff and in the per-capita funding of professors. In the absolute funding comparison, this area of research maintained its ninth place ranking. The Funding Atlas noted that this means a professor in Konstanz in the humanities and social sciences acquires an average of 306,000 euros in external funding every three years.

The life sciences at the University of Konstanz again garnered the first place in the per-capita funding of all academic staff through DFG external funding. In the absolute funding comparison, the life sciences climbed one position over the last ranking to 34th place. The natural sciences at the University of Konstanz jumped seven positions since the last ranking to 18th place in the per-capita funding of all academic staff. In the absolute funding comparison, the natural sciences ranked 36th nationally.

For the first time, the engineering sciences at the University of Konstanz were included in the comparison of per-capita funding of all academic staff. Until now, the field of engineering sciences as a whole had been considered to be too small to compete in the ranking, as only the Department of Computer and Information Science was eligible for evaluation. In this year’s ranking, the University of Konstanz’s computer and information science field placed 13th in the per-capita funding of all academic staff. In the absolute funding comparison, the field placed 40th nationwide.

Published every three years, the DFG Funding Atlas presents key figures relating to publicly funded research in Germany. The current edition was presented today, on Thursday, 5 July 2018, at a joint press conference of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. One of the main topics, “50 years of Collaborative Research Centres (CRC)”, focuses on the history of this funding instrument, including special analyses that illustrate the programme’s success. Another main topic, “Research promotion in the European context and worldwide”, will illustrate Germany’s position in the European research context while focusing on Great Britain and the challenges posed by Brexit.

Facts:

• The DFG Funding Atlas 2018 ranked the University of Konstanz 1st nationally in per-capita funding of all academic staff (including professors) and 2nd in per-capita funding of professors for external funding obtained by the university.
• In the absolute comparison of external funding acquired, the University of Konstanz placed 23rd.
• The DFG Funding Atlas noted the University of Konstanz's “exceptional ranking” (p. 55)
• Humanities and social sciences: 1st place both in the per-capita funding of all academic staff as well as in the per-capita funding of professors. In the absolute funding comparison, this area of research maintained its 9th place ranking.
• Life Sciences: 1st place in per-capita funding of all academic staff; 2nd place in per-capita funding of professors; 34th place in the absolute comparison of external funding obtained.
• Natural sciences: 18th place in the per-capita funding of all academic staff; 12th place in per-capita funding of professors; 36th place in the absolute comparison of external funding obtained.
• Engineering sciences: 13th place in per-capita funding of all academic staff; 40th place in the absolute comparison of external funding obtained.