The German Council of Science and Humanities, the most important advisory body for science policy of the German Federal Government, gives the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) yet another glowing reference. The Council’s evaluation of the IAB was published last week and stated that the overall quality of the research conducted by the IAB was excellent.
“The sustainably positive development of the IAB since the last Council evaluation in 2007 merits express commendation. The IAB has managed to consolidate and enhance the high quality of its research and counselling services”, says the Council. “The IAB is held in very high regard in the scientific community, and it has very good connections with university and non-university research institutions in the country and abroad.”
The IAB provides highly relevant, sophisticated counselling and information services for the Federal Employment Agency, the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, politics, and the public, the statement continues, while pointing out the importance of the Institute’s scientific independence: “Its structurally safe scientific independence gives the Institute the leeway it needs in the selection of topics of research as well as the freedom to formulate and publish the results of such research. Scientific autonomy and a commitment to political non-alignment are also essential requirements for the IAB to complete its work, which usually involves socially relevant topics; at the moment, for instance, migration and refugee research.” Scientific independence is the rock on which the high regard in which the IAB is held in politics, administration, and science is built. “Above all, the IAB’s achievements in impact research regarding, among other things, minimum wage and marginal employment have assigned its counselling service a remarkable degree of political importance over the last few years,” says the Council.
Founded in 1957, the German Council of Science and Humanities advises the federal and local governments on issues regarding university development, science, and research. The statement on the IAB has been published on the Council website: www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/2019/7488-19.pdf.