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All the latest on the German higher education system: career news, articles and interviews.

Occupational incapacity insurance - the right private cover for academics
Occupational incapacity insurance - the right private cover for academics
Alongside private liability insurance, occupational incapacity insurance (German: BUV) is one of the most important types of insurance policy. It is a must for anyone who relies on his or her earned income. Unexpected accidents can result in a person losing their ability to work for an extended period of time and long-term sickness can also force people to give up their work prematurely. »
Academics welcomed home: programmes entice back those willing to return
Academics welcomed home: programmes entice back those willing to return
They are young, highly qualified and motivated - but gone: a great many top German academics have been enticed overseas. In the EU-wide competition for the best brains, Germany is only in the middle of the field. Yet Germany is waking up. The so-called brain drain is stalling; high-calibre researchers are returning home. »
Dual careers: breakfast together only at the weekends
Dual careers: breakfast together only at the weekends
A successful "dual career couple" in conversation. »
Good old Germany: researchers enticed back home
Good old Germany: researchers enticed back home
The two academics Martin Grill, PhD and Claudia Janssen, PhD have decided to return to Germany. Both have spent several years living abroad; they have done research, taught and completed their doctorate there. Both have been enticed back - and that despite good positions and future prospects. »
The return to the new, former home country
The return to the new, former home country - the findings of a GSO survey of professors of the Krupp funding programme
With the help of returnee funding programmes such as that of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation, Germany's universities are better able to compete on the international appointment market. »
The differences between German and Chinese degrees in engineering
The differences between German and Chinese degrees in engineering
The training of engineers at German universities enjoys high regard internationally. In comparison with engineering training in China, it is far more hands-on. Do the differences in the degree systems also lead to better qualified or less well-qualified engineers? »
Between homesickness and hope
Between homesickness and hope
The crisis has brought them here: how young southern European jobseekers experience Germany. »
Children and career? In dubio contra scientiam
Children and career? In dubio contra scientiam
Female researchers aiming for an academic career with children face numerous obstacles, and therefore often find the decision to have or forgo children very difficult. Thoughts from a research assistant asking herself this question. »
Lässt sich eine Karriere noch planen?
Career planning: can a career ever be planned?
Nowadays no-one can predict how their career will develop from first role to retirement. Consultant Petra Spiess explains how important career planning nonetheless is. »
ťTruth begins in twosŤ
Friedemann Schulz von Thun on ťconsistencyŤ and good leadership. »
Skills shortages? ?Then why can?t you find a job??
Skills shortages? "Then why can't you find a job?"
Why some specialists remain unemployed even in times of the job miracle and widespread skills shortages. »
On the compatibility of children and careers
On the compatibility of children and careers
Are children and careers compatible? Many female scientists find themselves faced with this question in the course of their academic careers. Is it possible to cope with the often massive difficulties that arise if one chooses both? The authors believe it is. »
Health is in demand
Health is in demand
Excellent prospects for the medical engineering industry. Information for career entrants and up-and-comers. »
donations_for_researchers
Donations for researchers
Expeditions on spare change? Young scientists are collecting donations for their projects. »
Single-track is passé
Single-track is passé
Why today?s physicists, biologists, chemists et al. have to work in an interdisciplinary fashion. »
The solar revolution
The solar revolution
China is planning to invest billions in solar energy. The country is already among the leading exporters of the technology. »
Get out of the lab
Get out of the lab!
The many places where natural scientists are needed. »
What is the Dr. worth?
What is the Dr. worth?
More doctorates are being awarded in Germany than ever before - but quality is falling by the wayside. »
Women in the care trap
Women in the care trap
Teaching yes, professorship no - for many women, an academic career demands major sacrifices. »
The drawbacks of the quota
The drawbacks of the quota
Experiences in other countries show that positive discrimination can become a disadvantage - for women too. »
Engineers from the pool
Engineers from the pool
How the automotive industry might be able to recover its junior staff during hard times. »
A question of honour
A question of honour
Universities must learn lessons from the Guttenberg case. Ten theories on the right way to handle poor or plagiarised work. »
The right chemistry
The right chemistry
Young researchers want to make the world a better, greener place. Interview with Ferdi Schüth. »
At home abroad?
At home abroad?
International mobility has become a way of life for many academics. How do they feel about their homeland and foreign countries when they go abroad to research and teach? We asked two women in academia. »
Desperately seeking surgeons
Desperately seeking surgeons
One of the most important medical disciplines, surgery, is suffering from a shortage of new blood. Questions to the founder of the Deutsche Chirurgie Stiftung (German Surgery Foundation). »
A call to desertion
A call to desertion
An appeal to abandon the old trenches, appreciate and perhaps even risk the fascination of entrepreneurship. »
A job for the net worker
A job for the net worker
Thousands of kilometres of new power lines are needed in Germany - a job for energy engineers. »
That's unfair too!
That's unfair too!
Women are treated preferentially in recruiting. Young men are losing out. A polemic. »
Heureka ? or: when do scientists rejoice?
Heureka - or: when do scientists rejoice?
At the Junge Akademie, scientists of various disciplines have joined together to form the "Heureka" working group in order to pursue the question of when something is considered proven in which science. »
Bologna 2.0 - between update and remake
Bologna 2.0 - between update and remake
Are Bologna reform and academic education a contradiction in terms, as critics claim? What must be changed or revived if the promise of "educational encounters" at university is to be filled with life again? »
Playing doctor for Germany
Playing doctor for Germany
How do I write a medical report? What is rehab? And why does the head of department never have time for me? Training for doctors from abroad aims to help make day-to-day communication easier. »
Excellent, but also relaxed
Excellent, but also relaxed
There are many top universities in Sweden. A visit to Lund shows why. »
Studying as an investment
Studying as An Investment
The importance of the scholarship and foundation culture in the United States. »
Moved up
Moved up
In the latest "Times" university ranking, Göttingen leads German universities. »
Excellent female researchers at the click of a mouse
Excellent Female Researchers at The Click of A Mouse
Internet portal AcademiaNet aims to increase the number of women in top academic roles. An interview with biologist Julia Fischer about everyday working life on male-dominated boards. »
Disagreement over new farming rules
Disagreement over New Farming Rules
The German Federal Government is planning to expand agricultural research. But to what end? Two adversaries debate shortages, genetic engineering and long-term thinking. »
Mendel's children
Mendel's Children
Young plant researchers often find themselves dealing with genetic engineering, but only a few build transgenic plants. »
Old MacDonald had a research institute
Old MacDonald Had A Research Institute
For decades, agricultural science was neglected in Germany. Due to world hunger, environmental awareness and climate change, it is now finally flourishing again. »
The future lies in the fields
The Future Lies in The Fields
We will need green genetic engineering, says BASF director Stefan Marcinowski - for a growing world population and for energy supply. »
Go Beyond Your Home Networks!
Go Beyond Your Home Networks!
Germany's universities have let internationalisation pass them by, says Enno Aufderheide, the new Secretary General of the Humboldt Foundation. He explains how he intends to increase the number of professors from abroad. »
Creative Use of Molecules - What Is Synthetic Biology?
Creative Use of Molecules - What Is Synthetic Biology?
Before the opportunities and risks associated with synthetic biology can be discussed, it is first necessary to understand the principles of how it works and how it came to be. Insights into the research field of synthetic biologists. »
Divided Continent
Divided Continent
Science in Eastern and Western Europe is a long way from growing together. »
Web Conferences at Higher Education Institutions - International Thanks to Virtualisation
Web Conferences at Higher Education Institutions
Like research, teaching at German higher education institutions is also to become more international in the next few years. Alternatives are being developed, for example web conferences for communication between lecturers and students. »
What Is the Excellence Competition Really about?
What Is the Excellence Competition Really about?
The Initiative for Excellence has kept German universities on their toes in recent years. But is it only about a competition of the best concepts? Or is there another guiding principle? »
Professor Adventure
Professor Adventure
Erwin Emmerling holds the Chair for Restoration, Art Technology and Conservation Science at the TU Munich. When he isn't teaching, he assists, for example, in the reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan. »
The Current State of U.S. Higher Education, Top to Bottom
The Current State of U.S. Higher Education, Top to Bottom
It is only possible to understand higher education in the United States in light of the intensified concentration of wealth in the country during the last thirty years. »
A coffee break - good idea
A Coffee Break - Good Idea
Young Chinese researchers on a tour of Germany - between laboratories, beer gardens and eminences. »
Just like baking a cake
Just Like Baking A Cake
Process engineering is fighting for its image - and for fresh blood, despite the fact that it could help solve global issues such as the energy supply of the future. »
An act of creation
An Act of Creation
Scientists have produced cells with synthetic DNA. Can biology now establish the nature of life? »
Solar fire on the back burner
Solar Fire on The Back Burner
The global project of thermonuclear fusion is stalled: the Europeans are penny-pinching, the Asians are toying with risky nuclear power. »
Unifying ? the transformation of the physician's image in academic medicine
Unifying
Doctors are expected to perform miracles. But can medical scientists handle the many expectations in science and everyday clinical work while at the same time ensuring high standards in research and patient care? »
Practising for space
Practising for Space
Italian Samantha Cristoforetti is soon to be an astronaut, and the only woman among those currently training at ESA in Cologne for their first space mission. »
Pan's Dream
Pan's Dream
Chinese physicist Pan Jianwei plans to re-invent communication and computers - with quantum mechanics German bread and sausage are helping him do it. »
"Enough Complaining!"
An interview with the great educational reformer Hildegard Hamm-Brücher about Bachelor, Master and the democratisation of Germany's universities. »
Laboratories of the Pioneer Spirit
Laboratories of the Pioneer Spirit
Yesterday Harvard, today Dresden-Klotzsche: what's drawing excellent researchers to Saxony's capital city. »
Private Universities as Niche Providers
Private Universities as Niche Providers
In Germany, private universities are still niche providers, because the state universities are financially better off and generally able to attract the better students and professors. »
Overworked
Overworked
Young German scientists are unhappy about the Bologna reform. »
Universities and the economic crisis
Universities and the Economic Crisis
How universities can benefit from the economic crisis. »
Summer, sunshine, seminar
Summer, Sunshine, Seminar
An overview of German Summer Universities. More and more universities in Germany are discovering the summer too. »
Excellence Initiative
Excellence Initiative
The government and society in Germany are key factors why the importance of science and research continues to grow. »
biodiversity
Biodiversity - Often Advocated, Rarely Funded
Everyone wants to preserve biodiversity - but the necessary expertise is threatening to disappear. A conversation with zoologist Alexander Haas from Hamburg. »
Harvard and otherwise wasteland
Harvard, and Otherwise Only Wasteland?
What are the effects of the financial crisis on American elite universities that have invested their foundation assets on the capital markets? An interview. »
German universities go offshore
German Universities Go "Offshore"
More and more German higher education institutions are co-operating with higher education institutions in other countries or founding new institutes or entire organisations abroad. »
Dr. Susanne Schreiber wins the Bernstein Award 2008
Dr. Susanne Schreiber Wins the Bernstein Award 2008
An interview with the winner of the Bernstein Award 2008, Dr. Susanne Schreiber, Humboldt University Berlin. »
Publishing your dissertation
Publishing Your Dissertation: Online or Not Online, That's the Question
Thanks to a paragraph in the doctorate regulations pertaining to the "Obligation to Publish". »
Lateral thinkers and border crossers
Lateral Thinkers and Border Crossers Required
Science and industry must be networked more closely, demands Joachim Milberg, who has himself gained positive experiences as a border crosser. »
Building networks
Building Networks
The phenomenon of dual career couples at higher education institutions has increased significantly in recent years. »
Thought needs freedom
"Thought Needs Freedom"
An interview with the president of the Max Planck Society about his views about the German system of science, the competition of universities and the internationalization of the Max Planck institutes. »
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory
The EMBL in Heidelberg
Internationalism without competitive pressure: the Heidelberg EMBL elite institute has a European recipe for success. »
Super-foundation instead of super-university
Berlin: "Super-Foundation" Instead of "Super-University"
Instead of a super-university, a foundation is being set up to promote academic excellence in Berlin »
How German and British universities can learn from one another
How German and British Universities Can Learn from One Another
British universities are regarded in Germany as the benchmark for all reforms. This is absurd. »
Private universities as employers
Private Universities As Employers
In recent years many private universities have been founded. Some have been greeted as a welcome addition to the state universities, some have been viewed critically. »
 
Latest news on science and researchin Cooperation with
9. April 2013
Iceman Ötzi had bad teeth
For the first time, researchers from the Centre for Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich together with colleagues abroad have been able to provide evidence of periodontitis, tooth decay and accident-related dental damage in the ice mummy 'Ötzi'. The latest scientific findings provide interesting information on the dietary patterns of the Neolithic Iceman and on the evolution of medically significant oral pathologies.  »
9. April 2013
New chart shows the entire topography of the Antarctic seafloor in detail for the first time
Reliable information on the depth and floor structure of the Southern Ocean has so far been available for only few coastal regions of the Antarctic. An international team of scientists under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, has for the first time succeeded in creating a digital map of the entire Antarctic seafloor. »
9. April 2013
Particles Changing Angle: Unexpected Orientation in Capillaries
When small particles flow through thin capillaries, they display an extremely unusual orientation behaviour. This has recently been discovered by a research team led by Prof. Stephan Förster and Prof. Walter Zimmermann (University of Bayreuth). The participating scientists of Bayreuth University, the Radboud University Nijmegen, the research centre DESY in Hamburg, and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen report their new findings in the scientific journal PNAS. The discovery is of major importance for spinning processes designed for the production of synthetic fibres, and the understanding of vascular stenosis. »
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For people who are active in research in the field of Engineering: academics brings you the latest job opportunities, career tips and news. »
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Your Career in Medicine
For people who are active in research in the field of Medicine: academics brings you the latest job opportunities, career tips and news. »