In 2024, the average amount of research funding secured per professor at a German university was €325,400. This figure represents a decrease of 2.1 percent, or €6,800, compared to the previous year.
According to data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday, when analyzing funding secured per professorship (while excluding universities with medical facilities or health sciences due to their exceptionally high income levels), Aachen University of Technology (RWTH Aachen) ranked first with €1,160,400, maintaining its position from previous years. This was followed by the Technical University of Munich (€891,100) and the University of Stuttgart (€860,500).
Switching to the total sum of research grants secured, the Technical University of Munich once again claimed the top spot in 2024 with €436 million. RWTH Aachen followed in second place with €403 million, and the Technical University of Dresden secured third place with €296 million. Research grants are primarily secured for individual or specific research projects and fields.
When comparing research funding across different subject areas (including medical facilities and health sciences), the field generating the highest average research funding per university professor in 2024 was Engineering Sciences, which brought in €715,600 (a decrease of 0.3 percent from 2023). Second place was held by Human Medicine/Health Sciences, which achieved €707,400 (a 4 percent increase). Third place went to Agronomy, Forestry, and Nutrition Sciences, along with Veterinary Medicine, securing €391,500 (a 7 percent decrease).
Significantly lower average amounts were recorded in the Legal, Business, and Social Sciences at €164,400 per professor (a 3 percent decrease), and in the Humanities at €147,800 per professor (a 1.4 percent decrease). The lowest funding total was found in the Art/Art Sciences, at €94,800 per professor (a 6 percent decrease).
In vocational and art institutions, the average research grant income per professor was considerably lower than at traditional universities. At Universities of Applied Sciences (excluding administrative schools), the average was €53,300 (a 0.3 percent increase from 2023), and at Colleges of Art, it was €23,800 (a 19 percent increase). Overall, across all types of universities (excluding administrative schools), a professor in 2024 raised an average of €225,700 in research funds, according to the statisticians (a 0.1 percent increase).
