Germany enlists IU to help reform education system

With names such as Albert Einstein, former NASA Director Wernher von Braun and radio technology pioneer Heinrich Rudolf Hertz all being trained in at German universities, the country solidified itself in the past as a world leader in the advancement of science research. While Germany has historically maintained a staunchly regulated educational system, reform is currently underway and IU officials are assisting in the endeavor.\nThe German Research Foundation has created the Excellence Initiative, designed to create flexibility within and competition among Germany's higher education institutions to ensure continued success of its programs and researchers. \nIU School of Education Dean Gerardo Gonzalez recently represented IU in Germany as an evaluator for two of the 10 finalists -- the Technische Universität München and Freie Universität Berlin -- competing for a portion of the $2.4 billion allotted by the GRF for grants that will go to strengthen the selected institutions. \n"To evaluate the proposals we need peers from all over the world," said Sabine Behrenbeck of the GRF in an e-mail. "We like to take them from renowned institutions like IU. We are very glad when the evaluators take advantage of their visit and start collaborations with those universities they came to know."\nKnowing the foundation of education is found in youth, Gonzalez aims to establish connections beyond just competition for funding by German universities. He also wants to build partnerships with primary and secondary schools. \n"The IU School of Education is recognized as an international leader in teacher education. The universities I visited understand that excellence in scientific research requires highly competent students and well-prepared teachers to teach them," he said in a statement. "We are now exchanging information and planning for further collaboration to strengthen research partnerships and teacher preparation, especially in the high need areas of math and science education."\nPart of the funding the universities will recieve from the German government will be used for preparatory programs intended to excite and attract students to the fields of science and math. The Excellence Initiative emphasizes learning beyond these two disciplines and represents the humanities and social sciences as well. \nThe initiative will award two rounds of funding, the first in October 2006 and another in 2007. Behrenbeck said there are three lines of funding: "graduate schools -- you would perhaps call them graduate programs -- to train young researchers during their PhD, Excellence Clusters of the university and her partners -- extra-university research institutes and industry -- and institutional strategies to improve the conditions for research." \nGonzalez is impressed with the pace at which the educational reform is being implemented and with the vision of the new German system. Future plans for teacher exchanges between IU and German universities and collaborations with Bloomington's WonderLab museum and the Indiana State Museum will further the development of young talent in both countries. \n"In order to stay economically competitive, Germany must make investments in developing research universities," Gonzalez said. \nFor these investments to include increased German-American collaboration, the world is ensured that science, humanities and hopefully space will continue to benefit.