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Promoting excellence together
German Rectors' Conference and Helmholtz Association agree on key points. Their goals: to coordinate strategies closely and to jointly promote young talent
"Improving cooperation between universities and non-university research is a key strategic task," agreed the President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), Professor Dr. Peter Gaehtgens, and the President of the Helmholtz Association, Professor Dr. Walter Kröll. This is why the HRK and the Helmholtz Association have adopted a number of joint key points "on cooperating together and on promoting young academics and researchers".Both sides plan to exchange views regularly on their strategic planning. Their goal is to identify and jointly address research fields where cooperation promises to produce greater synergies. Higher education institutions and the Helmholtz Association above all want to use the closer collaboration to promote young academics and researchers. Scientific training at the highest international level is the standard by which the joint venture will be measured.
Strengthening proven cooperation
Two models that have proven themselves in practice are to be intensified. The first model involves the so-called "virtual institutes" in which universities and Helmholtz Centres cooperate. The second model takes the form of Helmholtz-University Young Investigators Groups which offer talented young academics and researchers scientific independence, appropriate equipment and funding, and long-term career prospects. This follows in line with the US instrument of a tenure track. The Helmholtz Association will provide financial support for both models. The call for applications for 20 leaders of these young investigators groups is scheduled to run until 1 November 2004 (further information available from: www.helmholtz.de/yig).
Working together to train highly-talented doctoral students
As from 2005, the universities and the Helmholtz Association plan to create special groups of highly-talented doctoral students from Germany and abroad which promise to provide particularly high-quality training. A Helmholtz Centre and a university will jointly establish these Graduate Schools on a competitive basis and will share responsibility for running them. A cooperation agreement governs all the details, from the name of the Graduate School through to how the excellent specialist programmes are structured, and also the supplementary courses that are offered to advance the professional and personal qualifications of students.
High standards in the field of doctoral training
The German Rectors' Conference and the Helmholtz Association agree that a system of structured training based on comparable and high standards should be established in the medium term for all jointly supervised doctoral students. This includes, for example, doctoral committees, whose members come from the Helmholtz Centres and the universities, for each doctoral student and a formal doctoral contract; the right to award doctorates remains with the faculty.
Contacts:
• Dr. Bärbel Köster, Head of Strategy and International Relations, Helmholtz Association, Tel/Fax: +49 (0)30 206 329-37/-30, e-mail: baerbel.koester@helmholtz.de
• Susanne Schilden, Press Officer, German Rectors' Conference, Tel: +49 (0)228 887-152, e-mail: schilden@hrk.de
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