"We want to win the title ‚university of excellence’ and today brought us an important step closer today to our goal!", was Hans Müller-Steinhagen’s first reaction, rector of TU Dresden, to the decision made by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and des Science Council. According to today’s DFG announcement, the TU Dresden is among the universities that are invited within the excellence initiative to submit a full proposal for its institutional strategy.

Moreover, the draft proposal for "Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden" coordinated by Prof. Gerhard Fettweis, was chosen by the excellence initiative grants committee. Immediately after the good news was released, the rector of TU Dresden congratulated all scientists involved the successful application.

All full proposals will have to be submitted by 1 September 2011. Preparations of all projects for the full proposal phase are going full steam ahead since fall 2010. For example, several work groups were established to work on the university’s institutional strategy. "I am glad that we not just waited for DFG’s decision during the past months but instead intensive preparations for the institutional strategy have already been underway. As a result we are very well prepared to enter the next phase of the excellence competition." The rector of TU Dresden pointed out that the institutional strategy will serve at the same time as the university’s strategy paper for the next years. "If our institutional strategy will be successful within the excellence initiative, TU Dresden is well on the way to become one of the world’s most renowned universities."

A core element of TU Dresden’s application is DRESDEN-concept, a unique science network created by the university and 14 partners coming from the four important research institutions Fraunhofer, Helmholtz, Max-Planck and Leibniz and from distinguished museums and libraries in Dresden.

After TU Dresden had already been the most successful university of the new Länder in the first programme phase of the excellence initiative by being awarded funds for a cluster of excellence and a graduate school, our recent success can be adduced as another proof in favour of the university’s quality.

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