MINTchallenge plus

The MINTchallenge plus awards interdisciplinary degree programs in the STEM field with €5,000 each and thereby supports innovative university concepts that attract more students, reduce dropout rates, and increase the proportion of women. The initiators are the Stifterverband for German Science and the Dr. Friedrich Jungheinrich Foundation, which will select five outstanding programs in a two-stage jury process in March 2025. The award serves not only as financial recognition but also enables a structured evaluation phase. During this phase, success criteria such as student numbers, graduation rates, and gender balance are systematically analyzed. Subsequently, the results are exchanged across disciplines within a nationwide university network to make best practices for sustainable degree program development accessible.

Eligible to participate are educational institutions in Germany that combine at least one STEM discipline with another field and whose degree program structure has a predominant STEM component. A prerequisite is the submission of a proven innovative approach to recruitment strategy or dropout rate reduction. The evaluation criteria include the degree of innovation, interdisciplinarity, potential to increase student numbers, and measures to promote the proportion of women. The supported program coordinators will start their projects from May 2025 and will meet immediately thereafter for a workshop in Berlin. Afterwards, the prepared evaluation results will be published through the communication channels of the Stifterverband to achieve broad transfer effects and sustainable impulses for the further development of interdisciplinary STEM degree programs.