After a habilitation or successfully completed junior professorship or
term as the head of a junior research group, it is possible to be appointed to a professorship, which usually leads into permanent employment as a civil servant. In the context of appointment procedures for a professorship, an applicant can also be considered to have “qualifications equal to a habilitation” that make it possible to be appointed as a professor without a formal habilitation.
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week): 9 contact hours per week (Sec. 29(4) sentence 2 LHG)
- Salary: W3/W2
- Additional information:Professorial Appointment Portal
Scientists who have been granted teaching authority for a certain scientific subject or field based on a successful habilitation. This gives the right to hold the title “Privatdozent” (PD) if the person teaches at least two contact hours per week free of charge in the field (teaching to retain a title). Private lecturers employed by the university often lead research teams. A habilitation can be seen as the phase before a “real” professorship; however, it is not a guarantee for being appointed as a professor.
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): 2 SWS without pay, which is on top of the 9 SWS for permanent employment or the 4 SWS for temporary employment.
- Salary: Analogous to the current employment relationship, usually E/A 13
- Particularities: It is not necessary to have an employment relationship with the university for this purpose.
The term “außerplanmäßige Professur” (apl. Prof.) is an honorary title that can be given upon the suggestion of the Faculty to the Senate to private lecturer after at least two years of teaching and to junior professors after they have completed their service relationship (usually after six years). The appointment requires proof of above-average scientific qualification (usually confirmed by external reviews).
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): at least 2 SWS free of charge
- Salary: analogous to the current employment relationship, usually E/A 13
- Particularities: It is not necessary to have an employment relationship with the university for this purpose.
Fixed-term employment for the temporary vacancy of a professorship. The temporary professor typically takes on all tasks of the professorship. They must meet the appointment requirements for a professorship.
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): 9 SWS
- Salary: at the University of Hohenheim typically W2
- Particularities: The professorship title may not be carried in Baden-Württemberg.
Junior professors are tasked with qualifying themselves for appointment to a university professorship by independently carrying out their duties to the university. The requirement for being appointed to a junior professorship are a completed university degree, pedagogical aptitude, and a special qualification for scientific work, usually proven by a doctoral dissertation of outstanding quality. The service relationship lasts a maximum of six years. At the end of this time, the achievements are evaluated to determine the junior professor’s aptitude and competence as a university professor. If the service relationship is first limited to four years, the interim evaluation takes place in the fourth year. After this, the term is usually extended by two years.
In the tenure-track model, after a positive final evaluation, the junior professor is appointed as a W3 professor.
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load : until the interim evaluation 4 contact hours per week (SWS), after that and until the final evaluation 6 SWS
With the appointment to a W3 professorship, the teaching load is 9 SWS. - Salary: W1
- Particularities: at the University of Hohenheim, junior professorships are only advertised with tenure track; positive evaluation is a prerequisite for a W3 professorship: Regulations for Evaluating Junior Professors in Hohenheim
Endowed professors are not funded by the state but by private donors. The donor determines the field and typically pays for the research and staff costs for the first five to ten years. Currently, there are more than 80 endowed professorships in Baden-Württemberg.
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load: 9 SWS
- Salary: W3
- Particularities: Jointly appointed professors: In addition to their position at the university, jointly appointed professors also have a management function at an external institution. Their teaching load is usually much lower. Their salary is typically paid by the external institution, but their pension is often covered by the state.
In Hohenheim: "Systematic Entomology" (220) as a joint appointment with the Stuttgart Museum of Natural Science.
“Senior professor” is an honorary title for three years and is given to retired professors. The title is not tied to any employment relationship and has no legal consequences. The title is connected to the hope that the previous / specific activity will also be continued in retirement.
- Tasks (defined for Hohenheim): The activity “senior professor" can be in the fields of research, teaching, promotion of early career researchers, mentoring, internationalization, cultivation of networks, and representation as well as in the membership in scientific, political, and social committees and advisory boards of outstanding importance.
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): No teaching obligations
- Salary: No salary
Visiting professors are professors from other universities or people from scientific practice who fulfill the requirements for a professorship. Their stay or employment is usually a maximum of 12 months. For the duration of their employment, they are given the title “Visiting Professor.”
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): By individual agreement
- Salary: usually W2 or W3
They are salaried academic staff members. They take on assigned tasks in research, teaching, and in the area of scientific / administrative services, etc.
- Hiring requirements
- University degree
- three years of relevant professional experience and
- and the outstanding scientific achievements always necessary for permanent employment (determined by Hohenheim’s President’s Office).
- Tasks: Research, teaching, self-administration
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): usually 9 SWS
- Salary: hired into A13; after the probationary period is over, then after around 1.5 years promoted to Senior Research Associate (Akademische:r Oberrat/Oberrätin) (A14). Promotion to an Academic Director (Akademische:r Direktor:in) (A15) is only possible if outstanding and typically independent scientific work is taken on (e.g. directing a state institute).
Research associates who are civil servants for a maximum of two three-year periods in order to complete a habilitation. They are to be given sufficient opportunity for their own in-depth scientific work within the scope of their official duties. The hiring requirement is typically a qualified doctorate.
- Tasks: Some independent research, teaching, self-administration There are no standards as to how “independent” the work is. The scope is suggested by the professor and confirmed by the responsible faculty or by the Human Resources Department.
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): until habilitation 4 SWS, after habilitation 9 SWS
- Salary: hired into A13; promotions are not possible.
- Particularities: For the duration of the temporary civil service appointment, you will be excluded from the statutory insurances (unemployment insurance, health insurance, and pension insurance).
If you have any questions about this, please use the opportunity for an individual consultation in the Human Resources Department. Contacts
Universities often issue teaching assignments to supplement their range of courses. The assistant lecturers perform the teaching tasks assigned to them independently. They must have completed university studies and have pedagogical aptitude or be scientifically very well qualified for the field.
- Tasks: Teaching
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): flexible
- Remuneration: Assistant lecturers may receive compensation. The details are regulated by the Administrative Regulation of the Ministry of Finance and Economy on the Remuneration of Part-time/Secondary-employment Teaching (UVergVwV)
- Please note: There is no employment relationship with the University. The work is governed by a public law contract. After a certain period of time and with a very good teaching performance, there is the possibility to be appointed as an honorary professor.
- Additional information: Teaching contract
Research associates at a university are civil servants or employees who carry out tasks in accordance with instructions, in particular in science, research, teaching, and further education.
- Fixed-term contracts: Employment relationships may be temporary or permanent.
- Permanent positions, also called functional positions, are extremely rare. They are particularly suitable for people who want to continue working in a research-related capacity, but no longer want to be directly involved in research themselves. Examples from Hohenheim: Module Director in the Core Facility, Director of the Research Centers
- Fixed-term employment positions are typically those referred to as qualification positions. They are staffed with early career researchers who are working towards their own doctorate as doctoral candidates or are employed as postdocs or habilitation students after their doctorate. In addition to fulfilling their regular duties, they should be given sufficient opportunity to further their own scientific qualifications.
Temporary employment does not always have to be linked to the goal of further scientific qualification. Often they also serve to go more in-depth into one's own scientific profile and to provide orientation about one's further professional career.
Fixed-term contracts are concluded in accordance with the German Act on Fixed-term Employment Contracts in Science (WissZeitVG). According to this law, the total duration of all fixed-term appointments as a research associate at a university may not exceed twelve years. An extension beyond this period is possible in the case of third-party funding if- the employee is funded primarily from third-party funds and
- the funding is approved for a certain task and period of time and
- the employee primarily works on tasks according to the purpose of these funds.
In the future, when concluding a fixed-term employment contract according to Sec. 2(1) WissZeitVG, employers must ensure that the fixed term serves the employee’s scientific qualification, and that the duration of the contract is appropriate in terms of this goal.
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): Third-party funded employees usually have no teaching duties at all.
- Remuneration: research associates are paid according to the collective agreement for public service staff of the German Länder (TV-L).
Heads of junior research group programs represent an alternative to the classic habilitation or tenure-track professorship on the path to being eligible for appointment to a full professorship. They offer young, excellent scientists the chance to research for a time period of usually five years with generous funding and to gain initial experience in management. Junior research group leaders financed via programs do not have any teaching obligations: i.e. the focus is exclusively on research work.
The requirements for participation in such a program vary depending on the funding organization. Applications for these positions are submitted by the early career researchers themselves. Usually, two to four years of research experience after the doctorate are required - often internationally - as well as early proof of scientific excellence. Typically, researchers can choose a university or institution to house their junior research group. This enables those receiving funding to negotiate not only their resources but also their rights and obligations as well as their status (research associate or junior professor) with the selected institution. The objects of negotiation include e.g. the right to supervise doctorates and - if there are no teaching obligations - the right to teach. The funding institutions often provide guidelines that list important facts for these negotiations.
The funding received covers the costs of the head of the group’s position as well as positions for additional staff members.
A tenure-track option remains rare, but the chances of being appointed to a professorship are very good, as the evaluation of those funded by the Emmy Noether Program and the Volkswagen Foundation has shown.
- Tasks: focus on research
- Teaching load (contact hours per week (SWS)): often no teaching at all in junior research groups funded through programs.
- Remuneration: usually according to the collective agreement for public service employees of the German Länder (TV-L).
- Particularities: usually 5 years of independent research, no or very little teaching/academic administration responsibilities