Junior (Assistant) Professorship

The junior professorship (assistant professorship) was introduced in 2002 with the fifth amendment of the German Higher Education Framework Act. As assistant professors, young researchers are able to research and teach on their own at an early stage of their academic career.

Junior professorships are offered by the universities. Rights and responsibilities of assistant professors depend on the requirements of the university. However, they are similar to those of regular professors. According to the 2006 investigation “Five Years Junior Professorship” of the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE), assistant professorships are endowed 70.340 € on average. Compared to junior research groups, junior professorships are financially less supported.

Time-frame

The position as junior professor lasts three years and ends with an evaluation, for which the university sets up the guidelines. If the result of the evaluation is positive, the contract is extended for another three years. A negative result indicates that the junior professor is not qualified for an academic career and the position will not be renewed. However, the assistant professor gets the opportunity to extend their contract for one year, so that a change to the non-university labour market is easier.

Tenure track option

As far as the federal state law for junior professorships admits, the junior professorship can be provided with the so called “tenure track option”. It means that after another positive evaluation at the end of the sixth year, the junior professor must be offered a lifelong professorship at the same university. An important condition for this option is that there has been a change of university, before accepting the position as junior professor.

The tenure track option is a major advantage of junior professorships, as it gives young researchers the possibility to plan their scientific career in long-term.