University of Excellence What’s going to happen with the millions in subsidies?

BONN · The University of Bonn can look forward to more money as an Excellence University. Among other things, the university wants to use the millions to finance 26 new professorships - and the city wants to contribute with its own science task force.

The sight of various gentlemen in their prime - the podium at the press conference on the first working day after the promotion of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn to the illustrious circle of "Excellent" speaks volumes. The promotion of young scientists and women in particular will be one of the focal points in the use of the now awarded funding millions, promises University Rector Michael Hoch on Monday at lunchtime. Shortly before he himself and many other heads of the university go on their summer vacation, they outline in more detail what the university's promotion of excellence will bring in the next seven years.

Hoch explains that the university will mainly be offering three new professorships, some of which will be completely restructured. After the first stage of the Excellence Competition, in which the six research clusters defined and funded concrete research fields, these new positions will bring the entire university forward.

At a time of technological and social upheaval, six new Heinrich Hertz professors are to deal with topics of the future that are as yet unkown. The university intends to invest a total of 4.2 million euros in this programme. It is hoped that research and development trends will be introduced into research and teaching more quickly than usual, thus giving the university a pole position in dealing with them.

Ten professorships are named after the philosopher Friedrich Schlegel. They are to be staffed by internationally leading minds in order to establish permanent contacts with top universities worldwide. Ten more professorships named after the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander will be filled with promising young scientists. All new university professors will need additional staff and - Rector Hoch hopes - will help to attract additional third-party funding and collaborative research centres.

In fact, however, the increase in personnel will probably be somewhat lower than requested, university chancellor Frank Gottschalk states. According to his calculation, the university can expect annual grants of twelve million euros instead of the maximum of 15 million. "We will see where we will then have to cut back on the planned measures," says Gottschalk; in the university's total budget of around 600 million euros per year, the twelve additional funding millions will account for around two percent of income in the future.

„Actually, the whole city is a campus“

Nevertheless, all those present see Friday's result as the starting signal for a new integrated university development that will cover the entire city. "Actually the whole city is a campus" enthuses Hoch - and in the "small big city" Bonn is one with short distances on top of that. The chairman of the faculty conference, Professor Peter Stehle, explains that the "seventh heaven" has already been reached. Now the stars were luring.

Without actually having to ask, one has been assured of one's own strength and now where one belongs: at the top, says Senate Chairman Professor Rainer Hüttemann. But in the medium to long term Bonn will not only have to compete with Berlin or Munich, but also with Cambridge and Oxford.

The city and the university - after all one of the largest employers in the region - must therefore cooperate even better. This will benefit the region even more if major employers - and the tax expert is obviously alluding to the federal ministries - are no longer represented here in 15 years.

Rector Hoch names the transport routes between the university locations, new living space for more students and academic staff, international schools and daycare centres as well as high-quality offers in sports and culture as subject areas. Hüttemann adds more and better leisure activities for young people before starting a family to the wish list. There are deficits in Bonn.

A subject that Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan likes to pick up. At the press conference, he announces the establishment of a science task force. He announces that he wants to bring together representatives of all relevant research institutions and also become involved as the responsible department head.

Another suggestion of the Mayor: The Viktoria-Karree could be developed into a place for student life. During his time as a student in Bonn, there had indeed been more offers available.

Rainer Hüttemann promises that even if the university opens its doors to the city society with the Summer Festival or the Dies academicus, it will continue to open itself up internally and externally with seminars, workshops and more intensive communication. He can imagine, for example, that the state would move the scattered collections of the university museums to an attractive location and thus make them more conspicuous. And Hoch promises: "The honorary title is reason enough for the university to encourage the accelerated renovation of the university properties in Düsseldorf anyway.

(Original text: Martin Wein; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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