DFG establishes 23 new Graduiertenkollegs (University graduate training programmes) Funding has also been granted for five European Graduiertenkollegs and, for the first time, a Graduiertenkolleg with industrial co-operation
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has approved the establishment of 23 new Graduiertenkollegs for 1st April 2001. These are to include five new "European" Graduiertenkollegs in which German doctoral students will work together with young academics from France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands. From April 2001 onwards, the DFG will be promoting a total of 284 Graduiertenkollegs. In addition to these, the DFG Grants Committee has established a Graduiertenkolleg featuring co-operation between university and industry. This group, "Biomedical Active Ingredient Research", is located at the University of Konstanz, and scientists from the university will be working in co-operation with researchers from industry. The novelty here is that the industrial researchers will also take part in doctoral training.
Since 1990, the DFG has been promoting especially qualified doctoral students in all academic disciplines in its Graduiertenkollegs. Each group comprises 15 to 25 students, who usually work within an often interdisciplinary programme of research and studies organized by professors particularly distinguished in teaching and research. These programmes are acquiring an increasingly international character. At present, around ten per cent of all doctoral students in Germany are working for their doctorates in Graduiertenkollegs. The graduates from these groups are normally more broadly qualified than their counterparts, and are on average two years younger. Half of the graduate fellows gaining doctorates are aged 30 or under.
The Graduiertenkollegs have proved their value as an instrument for creating a structured and novel form of doctoral training and for raising the prestige of German universities. An analysis published by the DFG ten years after the institution of the first Graduiertenkollegs has emphasized this (details may be obtained under http://www.dfg.de/foerder/grako/download/strukturbericht2000.pdf). Still, a comprehensive reform of doctoral training is lacking. Hence the DFG is demanding increased efforts in this field from the Federal Government and the Länder.
A detailed list of the new Graduiertenkollegs is given below:
The arts and social sciences
· Cultural Hermeneutics: Reflections of Difference and Transdifference, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg · European Society, Universität-Gesamthochschule Essen
· Sentence Types: Variation and Interpretation, Universität Frankfurt
· Institutions, Methods and Aims of Formation and Development of International Legal Rules Concerning Private and Commercial Law, Universität Freiburg · Makom: Place and Places in Judaism, Universität PotsdamMedicine and Biosciences
· Structure and Molecular Interaction as a Basis for Drug Action, Universität Bonn
· Characterization of Pathophysiological Animal Models, Medizinische Hochschule/Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover
· Biomedical Active-ingredient Research, Universität Konstanz
· Neurotraumatology and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, LMU München
· Infection Biology, Universität Tübingen
· Mechanisms of the Development of Solid Tumours and Experimental Therapeutic Concepts, Universität TübingenNatural Sciences
· Ecological Significance of Natural Compounds and other Signals in Insects: From Structure to Function, Universität Bayreuth
· Reactivity in Surface Proximity, Universität-Gesamthoch-schule Essen
· Landscape Genesis in Relation to the Present Time, Universität Freiburg
· Complex Processes: Modelling, Simulation and Optimization, Universität Heidelberg
· Nonlinearities of Optical Materials, Universität Osnabrück
· Modification of Electron Densities in Chemical and Biological Systems/Symbiosis of Theory and Experiment to Reform the Postgraduate Education, Universität WürzburgInformation Technology
· Scientific Computing: Application-oriented Modelling and Development of Algorithms, Universität PaderbornEuropean Graduiertenkollegs:
Arts and Social Sciences/Information Technology
· Language Technology and Cognitive Systems, Universität des Saarlandes and University of EdinburghNatural Sciences
· Non-equilibrium Phenomena and Phase Transitions in Complex Systems, Universität Bayreuth and Universidad Complutense and Universität Carlos III, UNED, Madrid
· Interference and Quantum Applications, Universität Hannover with Université Paris-Sud, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Orsay and University of Glasgow/University of Strathclyde
· Template Directed Chemical Synthesis, Universität Münster and HRSMC Amsterdam, Leiden
· Hadrons in Vacuum, in Nuclei and Stars, Universität Tübingen with Basel (Basle)
Further information may be obtained from Dr. Robert Paul Königs (Leiter der Gruppe Graduiertenkollegs), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Kennedyallee 40, 53175 Bonn, Tel.: 0228-885-2424, e-mail: robert-paul.koenigs@dfg.de