In the fall of 2016, after the signing of the cooperation agreement between Goethe University Frankfurt and the Werner Reimers Stiftung in Bad Homburg, the board of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften commissioned an external committee to carry out a formative evaluation of the Institute. The idea was to assess what the Institute has achieved to date and to generate prospects for its future development.

The four-member committee was made up of Dr. Carsten Dose, managing director of the »Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies«; Prof. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz, former president of the Humboldt University in Berlin; Prof. Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer, philosopher in Leipzig; and Prof. Bénédicte Zimmermann, sociologist in Paris.

The final report confirms that the groundwork laid by the Institute has been extremely successful. An institution has been established in Bad Homburg that has an outstanding reputation in the humanities on an international scale. Its infrastructure attracts researchers from throughout the world to advance research on their own projects while also engaging in exchange with colleagues at Goethe University, thereby creating productive work relationships. At the same time, the Institute has developed into a popular location for dialogue between academia and society, very much in the spirit of a »people’s university«. The report also emphasizes the good atmosphere at the Institute and its efficient workflow.

Against this background, the committee has concluded that with the Institute, Goethe University possesses an infrastructure that is indispensable for the development of the university and its partners and, in particular, for the promotion of the humanities. The committee has recommended that the current course be maintained consistently for the long-term and that the Institute continue to be developed along the lines of the renowned model of an »Institute for Advanced Studies«.

The board of the Institute is currently engaged in following these recommendations. The board is made up of the president of Goethe University, Prof. Birgitta Wolff; the director of the Werner Reimers Stiftung, Dr. Albrecht Graf von Kalnein; the director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Prof. Matthias Lutz-Bachmann; the chief administrative officer of the Hochtaunuskreis, Ulrich Krebs; and the mayor of Bad Homburg, Alexander Hetjes.