Following the meeting of the Excellence Commission, German Science and Humanities Council and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) invite you to

a digital press conference on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 6 p.m.

The press conference will be streamed live on the German Science and Humanities Council's YouTube channel and will remain available there afterwards.

Universities of excellence and clusters of excellence comprising several universities receive financial support from the federal and state governments as part of the Excellence Strategy. In this way, policymakers strengthen the structural and institutional conditions for outstanding research.

As part of the ongoing funding of universities of excellence and clusters of excellence, the locations are evaluated every seven years by an international Committee of Experts. This is to check whether they continue to meet the requirements for funding.

The results of the evaluations of the ten universities of excellence eligible for further funding will be decided by the Committee of Experts and the Excellence Commission on March 10-11. The Excellence Commission consists of the Committee of Experts and the federal and state ministers responsible for science and research.

Further information

• on the press conference of German Science and Humanities Council and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (in German) 
• on the Excellence Strategy research competition