Annette Schavan Education Minister
Annette Schavan started her political career at the age of 40 when she was appointed minister of education and culture for the state of Baden-Württemberg. She served in that role for 10 years before switching to Berlin to serve as minister of science at the federal level.
In 1998 Chancellor Helmut Kohl stepped down as leader of the CDU after losing the election. His successor was Wolfgang Schäuble, and Schavan was elected one of his deputy leaders.
In 2001 Schavan entered the Baden-Württemberg state parliament (she is pictured here with former state governor Erwin Teufel) and she served once again as state education and culture minister.
As education minister she ensured that the standard of education in the state was very high. She was very protective of the states' rights to control educational policy and fought against interference by the federal government.
When the CDU made it back into government in 2005, Chancellor Angela Merkel brought Schavan back to Berlin and appointed her as education minister. She is pictured here at her offical appointment with President Horst Köhler.
Schavan has always been regarded as a loyal ally of Chancellor Merkel. However, despite her competence she has kept a low profile in recent years.
She has not made many concrete changes in her first four years in the ministry. The most important changes had been made by her predecessor, such as increasing the number of secondary schools that are open all day or encouraging competition amongst the german universities. However, she has been particular active in promoting research in Germany.
