The IMPRS initiative - detailed information
Educating and training junior scientists is of primary importance for the future of science, research, and innovation in Germany. In 1999, the Max Planck Society together with the Association of Universities and o ther Education Institutions in Germany launched an initiative to promote junior scientists called the International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS). These Schools offer especially gifted students from Germany and abroad the possibility to prepare for their doctoral exam in a structured program providing excellent research conditions.
The International Max Planck Research Schools are centers of scientific excellence in innovative and interdisciplinary research areas. In the winter semester 2000/2001, the first Research Schools were started as cooperative efforts involving Max Planck Institutes together with German and some foreign universities and research facilities.
The International Max Planck Research Schools are geared to scientists and researchers who have already completed one degree and are working towards their doctorate degree. The students and researchers receive excellent scientific value because the Research Schools provide a first-class, interdisciplinary education, develop scientific concentrations, interlink topics doctoral candidates are working on, and enable close cooperation among the doctoral candidates and their advisors.
The Research Schools focus particularly on international cooperation and strive to attract foreign students to Germany to pursue their doctoral studies. The Schools would also like to familiarize the students with research facilities in Germany and spark the students' interest for future cooperative activities with German research institutes. The aim is to have foreigners account for at least half of the student body. The students have the choice of doing their doctoral exam either at a German University or at their home university.
Fifty-four International Max Planck Research Schools have already been initiated involving a total of thirty-four Max Planck Institutes and many faculties and universities. The partners finance the Research Schools in part from their own funds and from third-party funds.
A scientific committee comprised of the Max Planck Society and the Association of Universities and other Education Institutions in Germany has examined all of the programs. Initially the Research Schools run for six years and after four years they are evaluated. On the basis of the commission's recommendation the School may be extended by another six years. More International Max Planck Research Schools are planned in the next few years, a reflection of goal to provide increasing support for junior scientists and strengthen research in Germany.
