 The university's research performance increased markedly with regard to the number of graduates, PhDs granted, and publications.Since 2003, the FU Berlin has been regrouping its research capacities into interdisciplinary research focus areas called clusters.Due to financial cutbacks and restructuring of medical schools in the same year, the medical institutions of Free University of Berlin and the Humboldt University merged to create a joint department, the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.