Science in transition: plans for ministries are causing a stir!

Science in transition: plans for ministries are causing a stir!

In the current discussions about the formation of a government, the focus is on dividing the areas of education, science and research across several ministries. According to reports from the standard A separation of universities and research into non-disciplinary departments is planned, which uniko President Brigitte Hütter describes as “contradictory and absurd”. She argues that universities and the RTI sector (research, technology, innovation) form an interconnected ecosystem that requires a unified strategy to successfully address challenges in areas such as economy, energy and climate.

Criticism of competition between universities

As part of the discussion about the relevance of universities, the influence of New Public Management (NPM) is also considered. This model promises progress through competition and internal quality assurance, which is considered crucial for the development of science. Loud Research and teaching However, it is criticized that this competitive orientation leads to inequality between institutions. Researchers must compete for attention under unequal conditions, which could jeopardize new lines of research. In this context, specialist societies play a central role by supporting genuinely scientific quality assurance as a place for open scientific discourse.

The challenges that arise from an excessively competitive focus require that specialist societies provide a space in which even failed research projects can be discussed. This openness is important for the advancement of knowledge, as many scientific advances are based on errors. Hütter and critics warn that the desired separation of science and research in the upcoming formation of ministries could jeopardize the necessary freedom for determinate research approaches and possible failures.