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Start into a professorship
Are you thinking about a career as a professor? But you don't know whether you are suited for it? Read up on which Requirements they must have fulfilled at what time and which Preparations you can make for your application.
Requirements for an application
To have a chance of getting a job as a professor, you must
fulfil various requirements:
Formal requirements
The formal requirements for working as a professor are regulated in the higher education laws of the Länder. They include:
completed university degree
Pedagogical aptitude, usually proven by experience in teaching and training
Qualification for academic work, usually proven by a doctorate or by academic or artistic achievements appropriate to the doctorate (e.g. through relevant publications, outstanding projects, prizes received, competitions, exhibitions, etc.).
At least five years of professional experience after graduation, of which at least three years must have been gained outside a higher education institution. The professional experience should be related to the subject profile of an advertised professorship.
Ideally, you have already fulfilled all the requirements at the time of your application.
There is no general age limit.
If you have not yet fulfilled all the appeal requirements:
You can already apply when only a few and unproblematic things are missing, for example several months to a year of professional experience or the completion of the dissertation. This is because appointment procedures normally take a few months. Moreover, in such a case, the appointment procedure can be suspended for a certain period of time or the professorship can be temporarily filled for substitution or administration, followed by a normal appointment procedure.
In order to improve the compatibility of family and career, professorships may also be held on a part-time basis.
Professional requirements
In addition to the formal requirements, each call for tenders also defines a technical requirement profile. Ideally, this can rarely be fulfilled. For this reason, your qualifications will rarely match the requirements profile completely. Do not let this deter you. Apply and gain valuable experience.
Other selection criteria
Other possible selection criteria in appointment procedures are:
Scientific or artistic experience and achievements
You can find more info from other websites at Databases and links.
Preparing for an application
Find out in advance about the exact contents of the advertised position. Get in touch with the contact person named in the advertisement, the chairperson of the appointment committee, the appointment management or the Women's and Equal Opportunities Officer. In this way, you can find out about the general conditions of the application procedure and special features of the respective appointment procedure. Research on the internet to find out as much as possible about the university, the subject area and the degree programme.
Think about why you want to go to this university in particular and what makes this place of study attractive to you.
Have you ever had job application training? You can find special offers for the preparation for appointment procedures under Databases and links. There you will find offers for didactic preparation as well as literature.