However, the Excellence Initiative aims to strengthen some selected public universities more than others in order to raise their international visibility.
Federal Education Minister Annette Schavan said following the awards ceremony, "The excellence initiative is writing scientific history.
"[9] Source: Federal Ministry of Education and Research[10] Whether the Excellence Initiative has had a positive effect is currently a matter of debate.
A report by the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre indicates that the program failed to create more diverse education options and produced little in the way of lasting change.
[12] However, an international commission led by physicist Dieter Imboden of the ETH Zurich in Switzerland praised the program, saying it had a "very positive" influence on higher education in Germany, and recommending it be extended and further developed.