DFG's Funding Atlas: Siegen University ranks highly
(25 May 2012) The new Funding Atlas published recently by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) examines the research performance of every university and research institution in Germany. The University of Siegen scored an excellent ranking.
According to the Atlas, the University of Siegen's research work in humanities and social sciences as well as engineering sciences is considered to be very good. In these areas, the University of Siegen was ranked in the top 40 German universities (there are 316 universities and universities of applied sciences in Germany). In the area of humanities and social sciences, the University of Siegen was ranked in 36th place for DFG approved funding and in 30th place for engineering sciences for third party funding by DFG.
Rector of the University of Siegen, Dr. Holger Burckhart: "I am delighted with these results for the University, the University staff, the region and its citizens. The good rankings demonstrate the combined efforts and commitment of everyone involved. They show us where we should enhance our strengths in future and where we must discuss together the need for additional support."
In general, the problem with overall ranking reports is that they do not reflect the size and resources of each institution. However for DFG funding, the Atlas provides a more differentiated view that is adjusted by the number of staff. Thus when considering the score for humanities and social sciences adjusted by the number of scientists, the position, i.e., 35th out of all the German universities, is even better. In engineering sciences, this differentiated view leads to an outstanding ranking: taking into account the number of scientists, Siegen's engineering sciences came 18th out of all the German universities. "We are extremely happy that Siegen's engineers were able to rank directly behind the Munich University of Applied Sciences (17th place) and clearly ahead of long standing engineering talent hotbeds such as the University of Stuttgart (24th place)," said the Prorector of Research, Dr. Peter Haring Bolívar. This excellent ranking on a national level reveals the success of the profiling initiatives at University of Siegen.
The Funding Atlas also reveals the impressive international appeal of the University of Siegen. In engineering sciences, it was ranked in 12th place out of all the German universities for the total number of scientists funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), placing it clearly ahead of other larger technical universities.
About the Funding Atlas
The Förderatlas der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (Funding Atlas published by the German Research Foundation, DFG ) analyses all of the third party funding awarded by the DFG, the Federal Government, the EU, foundations and industry to all the universities and other research institutions between 2008 and 2010. Various specialized rankings for humanities, life sciences, natural sciences and engineering sciences are differentiated. Most of the analyses consider the total amount of third party funding. However the analyses of DFG funding are adjusted by the number of staff and are a way of evaluating the efficiency of an institution’s research output in relation to its resources.