TU Dresden remains a University of Excellence

Title of University of Excellence must be confirmed every seven years

The Technische Universität Dresden has already been successful in the Excellence Initiative before. It was awarded its first Cluster of Excellence in 2006. In 2012, it was awarded the title of University of Excellence for the first time. Since 2019, the university has been permanently funded as a University of Excellence. As such, it must undergo an evaluation every seven years.

The evaluation checks whether the requirements for funding continue to be met. Ten locations are currently involved. Following the decision on the continued funding of the existing institutions, the process will begin for universities or alliances that submit a new application for funding. This decision is to be announced on October 2.

Six Clusters of Excellence at Saxon Universities

Saxony was able to increase the number of clusters from three to six in the last round of the Excellence Initiative and thus occupies a leading position in the nationwide ranking. In addition to three previously funded Clusters of Excellence, TU Dresden was able to establish two new ones, while Leipzig was successful for the first time.

From 2026, around 200 million euros in federal funding will flow to Saxony for the six Clusters of Excellence over a period of seven years. The Free State of Saxony has already pledged co-financing. Clusters of Excellence are also important because they attract top researchers from all over the world. The proportion of international researchers in the clusters is on average twice as high as in other areas, it said.

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