Prof Dr Peter-André Alt will relinquish his office as President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) on 31 March 2023 and thus before the regular end of his second term of office. From 1 April 2023, Alt will be responsible for the establishment of a new research foundation in Berlin as its director. With an annual funding volume of up to €25 million and a programme strongly oriented towards top-level research, career paths and internationality, this foundation is to be developed into one of the key players in the field of research funding in Germany in the coming years.
Alt said today in Berlin: "The decision to give up the office of President of the German Rectors' Conference before the end of my second and last term was not an easy one. I have always approached my responsibility for the interests of the German higher education system with commitment and enthusiasm – and that will continue to be the case over the coming nine months. I feel very well supported by the 269 member universities, whose leaders re-elected me with an impressive majority in April 2021. The same applies to the HRK offices in Berlin, Bonn and Brussels, whose professionalism and commitment have provided me with outstanding support. However, the offer to work in a leading role for the establishment of an important new research foundation was extremely attractive because it gives me the opportunity to once again take on responsibility for the research system in a completely different role and to contribute my expertise to the design and implementation of programmes for top-level funding in the long term."
Prof Dr Peter-André Alt, born in 1960, has been President of the German Rectors' Conference since 1 August 2018. In April 2021 he was re-elected for a second and final term, which would have ended by rotation on 31 July 2024. Alt was President of Freie Universität Berlin from June 2010 to July 2018. Between 2011 and 2012 and again between 2017 and 2018, he was spokesperson for the Berlin State Rectors' Conference. Alt studied German language and literature, political science, history and philosophy. He received his doctorate in 1984 and his habilitation in 1993. Alt has been a full professor of modern German literature since 1995, with chairs at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (1995 to 2002), at the University of Würzburg (2002 to 2005) and since 2005 at the Freie Universität Berlin.
