Georg Krücken took over the leadership of INCHER in 2011. By consistently focusing on theory-based, long-term, international and interdisciplinary research, Georg Krücken sharpened INCHER's profile as Germany’s foremost university center for higher education research. The success of this orientation became particularly evident when the research group “Multiple Competition in Higher Education” initiated by Georg Krücken won funding by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in 2021. The research group, which is positioned at the interface of sociology, economics and management research, was extended for another three years in January 2024. Georg Krücken’s leadership of INCHER was characterized by collegiality, participation and open discussion within the team. Working with early-career researchers was of particular importance to him. Many of his former students now hold professorships and other positions of responsibility in Germany and abroad.
Georg Krücken's research interests focused on questions of governance and organization in the higher education system. At the same time, he was known far beyond the field of higher education research as one of the most prominent representatives of sociological neo-institutionalism in the German-speaking world. A central theme in Georg Krücken's research was the evolution of European universities from loosely coupled institutions coordinated by academic self-administration to organizations capable of agency and strategy. He was particularly interested in the role of competition. Based on the analysis of competitive interaction in the higher education system, his aim was to develop more general principles of a sociology of competition.

Based on his studies in Bielefeld and Bologna, a post-doctoral period at Stanford University was a defining period in Georg Krücken’s career. Not only was his theoretical perspective shaped in this time. It was also through the personal exposure to the US academic world as well as through the formation of professional contacts and friendships that he would maintain throughout his career that Stanford had a lasting impact on him. In the winter of 2023/24, a research stay together with his partner Anna Kosmützky, with whom he also had a long-standing scholarly collaboration, brought Georg Krücken back to Stanford. It was during this stay that his state of health began to deteriorate. After months of fighting the vicious illness, Georg Krücken passed away just hours before the start of the kick-off workshop for the second phase of the research group “Multiple Competition in Higher Education” that meant so much to him.

In Georg Krücken, INCHER has lost an outstanding scholar of international acclaim who had a strong impact on the development of our field of research. His leadership of INCHER moved the center forward in decisive ways. Above all, however, we as the INCHER team mourn the loss of a wonderful human being. Georg Krücken’s untimely passing shocks us. Continuing his work is both an obligation and a mission for us.