Sir
The excellence initiative is indeed a welcome addition to the German academic world, as your Naturejobs Feature 'Allowing an élite' points out (Nature 450, 452–453; 2007). But you omit to mention the plight of women academics. Only 10% of full professors at German universities are female. Just 14.6% of all grants from the DFG, Germany's main funding agency for university research, were awarded to women in 2006, a mere 2% rise since 2003.
I would be interested to know how many women received financial 'excellence cluster' awards, and whether the DFG is making attempts to reward female scientists in Germany's male-dominated academia. The Feature, whose interviewees and examples were all male, conveys the impression that this will continue to be a man's world.
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The German government is keen to increase the number of female scientists in top positions. On 19 November, the federal science minister and the Länder (state) governments agreed on a €75-million (US$111-million) programme for creating 200 new tenured positions for female university professors in the next five years — Editor, Nature.
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Niven, L. Few women join ranks of Germany's academic élite. Nature 450, 788 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450788d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/450788d
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