Lower Saxony is investing 265 million euros in universities for future projects!

Lower Saxony is investing 265 million euros in universities for future projects!

The Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation announced today that the Leuphana University of Lüneburg will receive 18.5 million euros in funding. This generous support is part of the “strategically develop potential” funding initiative, which is aimed at raising the profile and strengthening the strengths of the universities in Lower Saxony. This was revealed in a recent report by Leuphana announced.

The “Transformation through research, education and knowledge transfer” project places a clear focus on intensifying research services. University President Sascha Spoun expressed optimism and saw the opportunity to position Leuphana as a leading institution for research and education. The development of a competitive research profile should particularly focus on democracy, sustainability, digital cultures, organization and psychology.

Expansion of interdisciplinary collaboration

A central element of this initiative is the establishment of a Leuphana Transformation Lab. This lab is intended to promote interdisciplinary and international collaboration to develop innovative approaches to research. In addition, a new type of doctoral training is being established in order to attract international research talent to the university. Strengthening internationalization remains a central task of the Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS), like Lower Saxony's Ministry of Science and Culture notes.

The funding initiative “Strategically develop potential” provides a total of 265 million euros, which will be divided among 20 universities in Lower Saxony. The applications from these universities are evaluated by an international committee of experts, which takes into account criteria such as the degree of innovation and the economic and scientific leverage.

Examples of funding and distribution of funds

Other supported universities include:

• Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg: 22,5 Millionen Euro für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften sowie Digitalisierung.
• HAWK Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst: 14 Millionen Euro für eine KI-basierte Infrastruktur und ein Advanced Innovation Network.
• Technische Universität Braunschweig: 22,5 Millionen Euro für ein kollaboratives Forschungssystem.

In addition, all universities receive 10% of the funding amount to cover administrative and infrastructure expenses. A total of 291.5 million euros will flow to the universities in order to sustainably increase the performance of the university system in Lower Saxony. These funds come from the dividend on 30.2 million VW trust shares from the state of Lower Saxony, according to the website Future of Lower Saxony explained.

The initiative aims to advance forward-looking projects and further develop the strengths of the universities in Lower Saxony. As part of these comprehensive support measures, research into sustainable energies in particular should be strengthened. This may also have an impact on the energy transition in Lower Saxony.