The University of Cologne has once again been awarded the status of a University of Excellence in the federal and state governments’ Excellence Strategy competition. The decision recognizes the university’s outstanding research achievements and its strategy for further development. The new funding period begins in January 2027.
Through its long-term support of the Adenauer School of Government (ASG), the Alfred Landecker Foundation is helping to establish a center where research and teaching on key issues of democratic governance converge. The goal is to make scientific findings usable for political decision-making and for addressing societal challenges.
University Rector Joybrato Mukherjee emphasizes the significance the school already has for the university’s academic profile:
“The newly founded Adenauer School of Government is already an integral part of our research profile and our strategic development. It also played a special role in our application for University of Excellence status — the ASG made a strong impression on the international reviewers.”
For the Foundation, this partnership reflects a fundamental conviction: Strong democracies need independent scholarship, well-informed decisions, and dialogue between research and practice. The renewed status of excellence strengthens the academic environment in which the ASG is taking shape.
We congratulate everyone who made this success possible and look forward to further developing the ASG together with the university.