Photo: Heike Zappe

With its “Humboldt Talent Track” application, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) has very successfully emerged from the Federal-Länder programme for the promotion of young scientist (Tenure Track Programme). From 1 December 2017, 26 new tenure track professorships will be created at the HU. As such, all 26 professorships applied for will be supported – with a flat-rate of some EUR 118,000 annually per professor.

The Federal Government will make a total of EUR 1 billion available until 2032, in order to promote a total of 1,000 additional tenure track professorships nationwide. This way, the tenure track will become established across all German universities for the first time. The tenure track professorship provides a lifelong professorship following a successful evaluation. For many young scientists, a scientific career thus becomes considerably more transparent and facilitates career planning.

HU President Sabine Kunst: “The fact that the HU was so successful with its ‘Humboldt Talent Track’ makes me proud, and shows: Our strategies for personnel recruitment and retention are working. Now we can expand and consolidate our personnel development for young scientists – an important prospect for young researchers and also for the continuation of our excellent research and teaching.”

On the way to the tenure track professorship, the HU was an early forerunner within the German university landscape. As early as 2005, the junior professorship programme was established and provided with a tenure option, enabling the Humboldt-Universität to retain especially suitable junior professors at the University, and to offer them a lifelong appointment. In 2013, the tenure track procedure based on the North American model was introduced, in order to give young scientists greater planning security. In this procedure, W1 professorships are already assigned to the tenure track. This procedure will now be given additional legal security through the amendment to the Berlin Act on Higher Education (BerlHG), which firmly establishes the tenure track in law.

By promoting 26 tenure track professorships in the current Federal-Länder programme, the HU will roll out tenure track across the entire University and embed it into its structure. In doing so, the HU intends to increase its tenure track quota to 30 percent by 2020, that is, fill approx. a third of all permanent W2 or W3 professorships with tenure track appointments.

The transparently established tenure track programme also creates greater international connectivity and appeal for outstanding young scientists in Germany and abroad. In order to address talents at different stages of their careers, tenure track positions at the HU will in future be advertised as W1 professorships or W2 professorships.

Press contact

Hans-Christoph Keller
Spokesperson of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Phone.: +49 30 2093-2332
hans-christoph.keller@hu-berlin.de