The Partners of the Ministry of Education and Research

The BMBF is not only a financial backer but also a partner in the German education and research system. Alone or together with the Länder, it provides funds for many different establishments. These include, for example, the large-scale research organizations, such as the Max Planck Society. But funding also covers institutions such as the Federal Institute for Vocational Training. Furthermore the BMBF plays an active role on the supervisory board or as a member of these organizations.

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The BMBF is not only a financial backer but also a partner in the education and research system. It provides funds for different establishments. Essentially these are research institutions and funding agencies which the BMBF funds either alone or together with the Länder or other partners. As a rule this institution-based funding entails the cooperation of the BMBF in the supervisory boards of these organizations. Instead of simply supervising the legal activities of its subordinate bodies, the BMBF thus has a direct influence on the education and research system, either through the supervisory boards or through its membership of associations or foundation bodies, depending on the legal structure of the respective organization.

This is due to the fact that the federal system of the Federal Republic of Germany does not generally stipulate responsibility for education and research as tasks of the BMBF. These tasks are usually laid down in special agreements. This is in accordance with Article 91b Basic Law on joint research funding by the Federal Government and the Länder, which states:

"The Federation and the States (Länder) may, pursuant to agreements, cooperate in educational planning and in the promotion of institutions and projects of scientific research of supra-regional importance. The apportionment of costs is regulated in the relevant agreements."

The "Skeleton Agreement between the Federal and Länder Governments on the Joint Promotion of Research", which was concluded in accordance with Article 91b Basic Law, regulates in particular those areas or institutions to which joint research funding extends and provides the financing formula on which the apportionment of costs is based.

The Federal Government and the Länder also coordinate their measures in the Bund-Länder Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion (BLK).

Joint funding by the Federal Government and the Länder

More than a quarter of all state funding is in the form of institution-based support to institutions funded jointly by the Federal Government and the Länder. The Federal Government is responsible for providing two thirds of these funds.
Together the Federal Government and the Länder fund,

as research institutions the:

• Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (Max Planck Society),
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for the Advancement of Applied Research (Fraunhofer Society),
• Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres)and
• Blaue Liste-Einrichtungen (Blue List Establishments) in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Science Association;

as funding agencies for research projects:

• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. (German Research Foundation) and
• Akademienprogramm der sieben deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften (Projects of the seven German Academies of Sciences).

Sole funding by the Federal Government

The Federal Government provides sole funding through annual grants or endowment capital to the following

as research institutions:

• Stiftung caesar (Center of Advanced European Studies and Research) and
• federal institutions with research tasks connected with their autonomous activities within the framework of the work of the respective Federal Ministry to whose sphere of action they belong;

as funding agencies for research projects:

• Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) (German Environment Foundation),
• Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke " e.V. (AiF) (German Federation of Industrial Cooperative Research Associations "Otto von Guericke") and
• Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung (DSF) (German Foundation for Peace Research);

as institutions for promoting young scientists by means of scholarships and other forms of individual funding the:

• Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) (German Academic Exchange Service),
• Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) and
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Begabtenförderungswerke im Hochschulbereich (Organization for the Promotion of Young Talent) consisting of the

• German National Merit Foundation,
• Cusanuswerk - Bischöfliche Studienförderung,
• Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst,
• Hans Böckler Foundation,
• Foundation of German Industry for Qualifications and Cooperation - Studienförderwerk Klaus Murmann,Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Heinrich Böll-Foundation,
• Friedrich Ebert Foundation,
• Rosa Luxemburg Foundation,
• Friedrich Naumann Foundation and
• Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Remit of the BMBF

Furthermore the BMBF supervises the legality of actions taken by:

• the Federal Institute for Vocational Education an Training (BiBB)
• the Foundation for German Humanities Institutes Abroad (DGIA) with its German Historical Institutes in Rome, Paris, London, Washington and Warsaw, as well as the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo and the Orient Institute in Beirut and Istanbul.