Target agreement signed: University of Kassel wants to improve conditions for research

Accordingly, the conditions for attracting third-party research funding are to be improved and the university's visibility is to be further enhanced at all levels - from the city of Kassel to the region, the state of Hesse, the federal government and the international arena. Conditions in studying and teaching are also to be further improved following a phase of extraordinary growth. The new target agreement is valid for five years. The state concludes target agreements with its universities at regular intervals; they are one of the most important control instruments within the framework of university autonomy. On the one hand, they leave it up to the universities to decide on the specific use of their funds; on the other hand, the universities commit themselves to the state to strive for and achieve certain goals.

"This agreement makes binding to the state goals that the university sets for itself," commented President Prof. Reiner Finkeldey. "The paper builds on our development plan, which was developed with the Senate and in this respect reflects a broad consensus within the university. The general line is: we want to become even better in research and teaching as well as in knowledge transfer and other topics. In research, this means in particular creating structures that make research more successful and significantly increase our national and international visibility in the research landscape."

To this end, the target agreement mentions, among other things, extended support for scientists in acquiring research projects. As a result, the university is targeting a benchmark of around 60 million euros per year in third-party funding. By comparison, in 2015 the figure was around 55 million euros. The share of highly competitive research projects, e.g., those funded by the German Research Foundation, is to be increased, the research profile is to be further sharpened, and some focal points are to be further developed into national or even international visibility.

In addition, the goal is to continue along the already very successful path of the University of Kassel as the engine of the North Hesse region. Among other things, the number of continuing education courses for professionals is to increase. In teaching, where surveys already attest to the University of Kassel's exceptionally good conditions, the range of courses that prepare students for studies in the STEM subjects, for example, will be expanded.

The University of Kassel continues to anticipate very high demand for its courses in almost all areas. Because of the continuing high student numbers, the federal and state governments continue to provide the University of Kassel with funds from the Higher Education Pact 2020, in addition to other sources of university funding. The target agreement stipulates these funds, the amount of which the university and the state had already agreed upon. According to this agreement, the University of Kassel can expect to receive an average of almost 24 million euros per year until 2020, which it urgently needs to achieve its ambitious goals. In addition, the university in northern Hesse will receive a total of 2.75 million euros over the five years from the state's innovation and structural development budget, among other things for the promotion of young scientists.

Contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de