German National Scientific Council held autumn meeting at IUB

From November 9 - 11, the autumn meeting of the German National Scientific Council (Wissenschaftsrat) took place at IUB. Agenda topics included the future role of universities in education and research, profile building of universities as well as positioning German universities internationally .

[ Nov 08, 2005]  At Tuesday's opening press conference, Prof. Dr. Karl Max Einhäupl, council chairman, stated that the science council will deliberate on a federal reform of the educational system. Furthermore a focus of this autumn meeting lay in developing recommendations for reshaping the Federal Ministry of Education and research. On Monday, the German National Scientific Council will announed it's recommendations at a press conference.

The Wissenschaftsrat is an advisory body to the Federal Government and the state (Länder) governments. Its function is to draw up recommendations on the development of higher education institutions, science and the research sector as regards content and structure, as well as on the construction of new universities. These recommendations involve considerations concerning quantitative and financial effects and the implementation of such considerations; they must be in line with the requirements of social, cultural and economic life.

The Wissenschaftsrat issues statements, recommendations and prepares reports which primarily concern the two major fields of science policy, namely

* the scientific institutions (universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions), in particular their structure and performance, development and financing, and
* general questions relating to the system of higher education, selected structural aspects of research and teaching as well as the strategic planning and assessment of specific fields and disciplines.