Successful Outcome of the Assessment of the Georg Eckert Institute

‘The tasks and achievements of the GEI are significant for the whole nation, and of interest for the academic politics of the entire state’ – this is how the most important Academic Advisory Board of the Federal Government of Germany and the Länder in the field of academic politics formulated its recommendation. People working at the institute expressed a sense of joy and relief last Friday, 10 July.

‘We have achieved an extraordinary thing together and now been recognised for it. That is simply marvellous.’ This is how the highly satisfied director reacted in her initial statement to colleagues at the institute. ‘Now we can and will rise, with vigour and conceptional clarity, to the new challenges which the positive vote of the academic advisory board has presented us with.’

Lutz Stratmann, Minister of Science at the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, in whose area of responsibility the Georg Eckert Institute belongs, likewise reacted positively. ‘The government of Lower Saxony requested the academic advisory board to carry out the assessment and lent its professional support throughout the procedure. Since 1975, the Georg Eckert Institute has made an indispensable contribution towards the promotion of international understanding and pursued research of the highest quality. The positive assessment by the academic advisory board confirms this.’ The minister went on to say that ‘we will now strive to ensure that the institute receives the joint sponsorship of the federal government and Länder within the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz academic community. This makes it possible to extend the sphere of activity of the GEI in line with the recommendations of the academic advisory board’.

This shows how important the statement of the academic advisory board is for the future of the institute: the people working at the institute are now one step closer to achieving the ambitious aims they set themselves in the mid-term research and work programme leading up to 2015.

Further information: Roderich Henrÿ Tel. 00-49-(0)531/5909957, E-Mail henry(at)gei.de; Verena Radkau, Tel. 00-49-(0)531/5909954, E-Mail radkau(at)gei.de