IPN Receives Positive Evaluation

Following the conclusion of the regular evaluation, the Senate of the Leibniz Association recommended that the federal and state governments continue their joint funding of the IPN. The recommendation was made after completion of the regular evaluation.

Following the conclusion of the regular evaluation, the Senate of the Leibniz Association recommended that the federal and state governments continue their joint funding of the IPN. The recommendation was made after completion of the regular evaluation.

In its position paper published yesterday, the Senate of the Leibniz Association praised the IPN as one of the leading international institutions in its field. The Institute has developed very successfully since the last evaluation:

The German Center for Teacher Education in Mathematics (DZLM), previously based at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, was successfully integrated into the newly founded Department of Knowledge Transfer. The assessment group considers it a very positive development that the IPN set up a research group on computer science education with Kiel University in November 2021. This was based on a recommendation from the previous evaluation in 2017 and a recommendation from the German Council of Science and Humanities.

The position paper states that the four existing research lines have developed further in recent years and that they are a successful instrument for bringing together the IPN's specialist expertise in the departments and dynamically developing scientific work across disciplines. The research lines were rated once as “excellent”, twice as “very good to excellent” and once as “very good”. It is suggested that the activities of the Department of Knowledge Transfer, whose tasks lie in the implementation and, in particular, the research of transfer activities, be rapidly expanded from mathematics to other STEM subjects, as the IPN is generally striving to do and as has already been recommended by the IPN's Scientific Advisory Board.

The position statement emphasizes that the IPN provides important scientific services based on its research, such as the international comparative education studies TIMSS, ICILS and PISA. The data resulting from these studies, in turn, is used at the IPN as a basis for further research. The services have also long included the conception and organization of a series of relevant Germany-wide student competitions in the natural sciences. The IPN's transfer activities, in turn, are convincingly based on co-constructive processes with practitioners.

Background

Each Leibniz institution undergoes regular external evaluation, at least every seven years. Experts of international repute, who are informed by means of written documents and during an evaluation visit, assess the performance and structures of each institution. The results of the evaluation are recorded in an evaluation report, on which the evaluated institute can comment. On this basis, the Senate of the Leibniz Association adopts a scientific policy statement containing a recommendation regarding the further funding of the Leibniz institution. This Senate statement is used by the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Länder (GWK) to review the funding requirements.

Along with Annexes A (Description of the main contents and structures of the institution), B (Evaluation report) and C (Statement of the institution on the evaluation report), the senate positions are published on the Leibniz Association website. None of the members of the committees involved in the evaluation and assessment are employed at Leibniz institutions.

Links

To the position statement (PDF file; not barrier-free)