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DFG third-party funding attracted by German universities

The amount of third-party funding acquired through competition is an important indicator of research performance. The Funding Atlas shows how successful universities and non-university research institutions are in acquiring third-party funding from various funding organisations, in which subjects which universities and research institutions stand out in relation to DFG third-party funding, and how the rankings have changed over the last 30 years.

 

The 2024 Funding Atlas provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the German higher education landscape, showing which universities have excelled in recent years. Not only absolute rankings are considered but also the universities’ success in acquiring third-party funding relative to each other. At the same time, the long-term series reveals a high level of stability.

The two Munich universities lead the absolute ranking

The two Munich universities lead the current ranking. LMU Munich has been in first place since the 2015 edition of the Funding Atlas, with TU Munich ranked second. They are followed by TH Aachen and U Heidelberg: these two universities have swapped places and are now ranked 3rd and 4th respectively. The group of the top 5 is completed by the FU Berlin, which, like the TH Aachen, improved by one place.

U Bonn improves significantly to 6th place

The best improvement among the top 40 universities was achieved by U Bonn, which was ranked 15th in the last report and has now seen a significant move upwards into 6th place. Also new in the top 10 is U Hamburg, which has climbed from 13th to 10th. U Erlangen-Nürnberg likewise saw an improvement, having moved up three places to 7th.

Stable rankings in the scientific disciplines

The rankings of the universities resulting from the amount DFG funding acquired have remained very stable. This generally applies to the rankings in the four scientific disciplines, too. You can use the search function at the top of this page to find the university rankings for the individual scientific disciplines or research areas..

DFG awards to universities in relative terms

In the ranking shown above, it is not least the size of the leading universities that accounts for their prominent status: where large numbers of researchers are employed, there are more individuals who can acquire third-party funding. The second important factor influencing the amount of funding raised is the university’s subject profile. It is easier to achieve a high ranking if researchers at a university acquire numerous projects in the largest DFG research area, namely medicine, or in a research area that has an above-average number of expensive projects. In order to control for these two effects, the following figure compares the amount of funding that would be expected based on the size and subject profile of a university with the amount actually approved.

U Freiburg and U Konstanz lead the relative rankings

Leading the relative rankings are U Freiburg and U Konstanz. It is worth noting that in absolute terms, these two universities are ranked 8th and 37th respectively. In relation to the professors and their subject profile, the U Konstanz raised almost 57% more DFG third-party funding than would be expected.

There are many similarities between the two rankings, too. Six of the ten absolute leaders are also among the top 10 in relative terms (in terms of professors) (U Freiburg, U Tübingen, U Heidelberg, TU Munich, TH Aachen and FU Berlin). This means that these six universities lead the DFG’s third-party funding statistics in both absolute and relative terms.

The long-term series

After ten editions of the Funding Atlas, the DFG grant approval rankings have now evolved into a long-term series. The first edition covered the period from 1991 to 1995, while the 2024 Funding Atlas covers the funding years 2020 to 2022, so ten measurement points are available over a period of more than 30 years.

The top 5 in the rankings are mostly made up of the same universities

It is striking to note that the top 5 universities in the ranking have mostly remained the same over time. The LMU Munich, the TH Aachen, the TU Munich and the U Heidelberg are represented in the top 5 on nine or ten occasions. FU Berlin also appeared in this group five times, while a further six universities were in the top 5 on either one or two occasions.

What is more, there are not many universities in the top 20 that were not in the top 20 in previous editions of the Funding Atlas. One exception is the TU Dresden which has steadily improved from 35th place in the first ranking to 5th place in the 2021 edition and 13th place in the current ranking. Originally ranked 29th, HU Berlin has now progressed to the top 20, being ranked in 11th place.

The last figure extends the scope to the 40 universities with the highest average ranking across all ten editions of the Funding Atlas. It also shows the highest and lowest rank of the respective university over the ten editions.

LMU Munich is particularly consistent in its rankings

Achieving second place on four occasions and first place on six occasions, LMU Munich is the university which is most consistent in terms of its ranking. It is followed by TH Aachen and U Heidelberg: among the 40 universities analysed, these are the universities with the smallest range of fluctuation.

Only 45 universities have ever made it into the top 40

Table Web-35 shows the places achieved by all 67 universities that have appeared in all rankings over time, so it enables their individual development to be tracked. It also shows that only 45 universities have ever made it into the top 40.

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