Terms A-Z

The Federal Report on Research and Innovation (BuFI) is a publication regularly issued by the Federal Ministry of Research, ... Technology and Space (BMFTR) on Germany’s research and innovation system. It brings together current data, facts, and analyses and provides a comprehensive overview of research and innovation policy at federal and Länder level.

The BuFI is published every two years and provides information on the Federal Government’s current research and innovation policy objectives, measures and developments. The printed editions are complemented by interactive online services.

Further information: bundesbericht-forschung-innovation.de

The statistics on R&D expenditures are collected both from the funding institutions and from the research institutions (implementation ... perspective). The financing perspective provides information on the financial contributions of the funding providers, that is, from the government, businesses, and private non-profit organizations, typically regardless of the recipient. For the government side, these are primarily budget data (financial statistics). (see also Implementation perspective).

The first-time graduation rate measures the proportion of first-time graduates in the population at the typical age of graduation. ... It therefore reflects the actual output of higher education institutions in terms of graduates who have obtained a first tertiary qualification.

New entrants to higher education are students in their first semester (first enrolment) or in their first semester of a certain ... course of study.

A full-time equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel is defined as the actual working time spent on R&D during a specific reference ... period (usually a calendar year) divided by the total number of working hours normally performed by one person or a group of persons during that period.

Further training and Meister examinations demonstrate knowledge and skills acquired through further training measures. They ... must comply with the special requirements of vocational adult education.