BERLIN--The German government has promised to spend $2.3 billion over the next 6 years to both create a German Ivy League and broadly strengthen academic research. Fearing that they might lose out, state governments balked at an earlier plan by Science and Education Minister Edelgard Bulmahn to develop a handful of elite universities (Science, 30 January, p. 605). So on 7 June, Bulmahn announced a compromise: Ten elite universities will each get $30 million a year for 5 years, and up to 40 graduate schools and 30 centers of excellence will share a $215 million annual pot. The first five universities will be named early next year. A state-federal commission still has to approve the plan, however, and opposition politicians say funding is inadequate.
Meanwhile, a language watchdog group has nominated Bulmahn's slogan for the contest, "Brain up!" (the original is in English), as the worst abuse of the German language for 2004.
