WEST BERLIN—The chief funding agency for West German university scientists has proposed an ambitious expansion of its budget for the next three years.
“The 1990s could become a time of blossoming for the German universities,” said Hubert Markl, president of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).”
The DFG, the German counterpart to the US. National Science Foundation, administered a budget of $600 million last year. That figure represents about 5 percent of the money spent on research by federal and state governments.
The DFG’s “gray plan” calls for an increase of 5 percent next year and 5.5 percent in each of 1989 and 1990. It is being reviewed by the federal commission that determines the appropriate balance of research funding between the federal and state governments.
The increase is needed, Markl said, in part because of the increasing reliance on expensive equipment by top-quality researchers. In addition, universities are receiving a declining ...
