Funding of science
As a third means is referred to in the scientific enterprise that shares in the financing of specific research projects which do not come from the budget of the funds made available by the responsible ministry for higher education ( these funds are then the internal resources ). Third means not only come from the private sector, but also from public research funding of certain research projects, such as the German Research Foundation (DFG ), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF ) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). In Switzerland, the Swiss National Fund (SNF ) of the most important public Forgiver of external funding. Even foundations, such as the Volkswagen Foundation awarded externally funded to a significant extent. Third means for the international exchange of students and scholars awards in Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service ( DAAD). The European Union is gaining increasing importance with various programs for the award of external funding. CORDIS, the EU's Research and Development Information Service, provides relevant summaries. The share of external funds in the overall budget of the universities (without medical facilities ) in Germany is now almost 20%.
Originally, the term external funds seems only necessary to relate, that the funds for a research of "third parties" outside the relationship " of individual researchers - University " come. Partial distinction is made between second means and third means: Second means are then means government agencies and foundations, such as the DFG or the SNF, while third-party funds under contracts with other entities, such as industry, to flow.
The problem with third-party funds can be a possible influence of donors on the freedom of research, particularly if they offer incentives for applied and results- oriented research. This is to distinguish between the profit independent financing of projects (eg foundations) and a pure contract research, where certain issues on behalf of third parties ( eg industry ) are to be solved and the client has a direct interest in the outcome of the project. The latter are with respect to an influence greater risk.
In particular, in recent years, inter alia, increases the criticism of the distribution of third-party funds from the private sector. Thus, in the natural and engineering sciences particularly large number of third-party funds to be raised. Thus, for example made in mathematics and the natural sciences resources from the non public sector in 2011 accounted for 18.7 percent, while in funding from the non-public sector only 5.8 percent of human medicine and 4.3 percent the art economy benefited.
The third-party funding is an important goal and commitment and the success of third-party funding by the employee, a criterion for career advancement at many universities. Is, for example, the federal government allocated to the universities, a portion of internal resources in height then in Switzerland, how many third-party funds have been acquired. Also note that due to the higher intake of third-party funding is also increasing the budget for the university, which is assigned by the competent Ministry of the Federal State (in the context of the defined benefit allocation of funds according to the Matthew principle). Many universities have special departments set up to support the researchers in the application.
In 2010, the German universities external funding in the amount of 5.9 billion euros were available.