Dresden University of Technology: a pioneer in equality!

Dresden University of Technology: a pioneer in equality!

In the current CEWS 2025 ranking, which was created by the Competence Center for Women in Science and Research, the Technical University of Dresden (TUD) achieved outstanding results and took the top spot among the technical universities in Germany. This ranking reflects the effectiveness of its comprehensive gender equality strategy, which focuses on supporting female scientists throughout their scientific careers. Loud tu-dresden.de TUD achieved top marks in five of six assessment categories, impressively demonstrating its commitment to equality.

The proportion of women in doctorates, in scientific staff and in the post-doc phase at TUD is over 40 percent. In recent years, the proportion of women in science and professorships has increased continuously. Prof. Roswitha Böhm, Vice Rector for University Culture, highlights the successes in the CEWS ranking as well as the progress within the “Professor Program 2030”, which pursues ambitious measures for the coming years.

A comprehensive equality concept

With its equality concept, the TUD implements 52 impact-oriented measures in various fields of action. These include university culture and governance, academic careers, studying and teaching, research and quality management. The CEWS ranking, based on data from the Federal Statistical Office and published every two years, evaluates the equality efforts of German universities within the framework of a cascade model. The proportion of women at different career levels is considered in relation to the levels below.

A look at the results of the ranking also shows that Berlin and Bremen take the top positions overall, followed by Hamburg. The best universities that were also able to achieve high scores include the Hertie School Berlin and the universities of Duisburg-Essen and Hildesheim, all of which received 11 out of 12 points. A detailed list of the best universities as well as those at the bottom, such as the EBS University of Economics and Law with only two points, illustrates the differences in the approaches to equality at German universities. forschung-und-lehre.de further reports that the proportion of women in professorships has increased from 11% to 29% in the last 22 years, which shows a positive trend, but also notes that the “leaky pipeline” still exists, as the proportion of women partially decreases as the career level increases.

Context and comparison with other universities

The FH Potsdam also did well in the CEWS 2025 ranking and achieved a place in the TOP 20 among 148 universities of applied sciences with a proportion of women of 43.16% in professorships. With 33.04%, Brandenburg takes second place in terms of the proportion of women in professorships, behind Berlin. This underlines the progress that numerous universities in Germany have made in the area of ​​equality. The Potsdam University of Applied Sciences received a distinction for its equality activities in the 2030 Professor Program, thereby illustrating how important it is to actively promote equality.

Overall, the CEWS ranking shows that gender participation at universities has increased, but challenges remain. These rankings are intended to provide incentives for a sustainable equality policy and motivate universities to further improve their strategies. The ranking methodology was fundamentally revised to ensure clear comparability and quality of the surveys. fh-potsdam.de clarifies that the database for the ranking is based solely on official university statistics in order to guarantee transparency and traceability.