Appointments & careers of professors

The University of Bayreuth is a creative, courageous, innovative, and highly liveable university. It offers space for creative thinking and acts as driver of innovation for the Bayreuth region, society at large, and the scientific community. In order to remain a driving force for innovation in the future, the University of Bayreuth needs the best minds.

The appointment and career system of the University of Bayreuth offers academics entry and promotion opportunities at all qualification levels, i.e. from graduates to doctoral researchers, postdoctoral candidates, postdocs, junior professors and W3 professors. Human resources development is a central element of structural and development planning at the University of Bayreuth.

The W3 professorship is the standard professorship at the University of Bayreuth. Besides direct appointment to a W3 position, all our future tenure-track professorships will lead to a W3 professorship ("Bayreuth-Track"). This gives the best young scientists the opportunity to obtain a W3 professorship via the Tenure Track Procedure.

With the introduction of the W1-W3-Bayreuth track in January 2019, the University of Bayreuth underlined its claim and mission to be a small but excellent university. With the W1-W3-Bayreuth-Track, the University of Bayreuth explicitly wants to win over young female scientists, at an early stage in their careers, who may decide to take the path to professorship following their doctorate. The process and course of this career path are regulated by the quality assurance concept of the Tenure Track Procedure and the regulations of Bayreuth Track. The following figure provides an overview of the basics of the model::

Design of the W1-W3 Bayreuth-Track Hide: Essentially, the model provides for the following ideal typical course: After the announcement of the position in t_-1 and the successful completion of the quality-assured appointment procedure, in t₀ the junior researcher enters a W1 position (junior professorship) as a Tenure-Track professor. An interim evaluation takes place between t₂and t_3, which, if positive in its findings, leads to an extension of W1 employment to a total duration of six years. In the event of a negative interim evaluation, a bridging phase of a maximum duration of one year is possible upon application. The tenure evaluation in the sixth year decides on the removal of the time limit, and the upgrading of the tenure track professor. This is based solely on the criteria laid down in a performance agreement. In the event of a negative tenure evaluation, a bridging phase of a maximum duration of one year is possible. If the tenure evaluation is positive, the Tenure Track Professor is appointed to the permanent W3 professorship. During the W1 phase, the Tenure-Track Professor may take advantage of support inter alia in the form of mentoring and/or coaching within the framework of the Bayreuth-WiN-Certificate for targeted personnel development.

The University of Bayreuth offers early career scholars excellent conditions which enable them to develop professionally and personally at an early stage of their career - whether through the use of modern laboratories and state-of-the-art equipment or through the structured personnel development measures of the Bayreuth-WiN-Certificate.

Clear, transparent and fast processes in the appointment process, from the call for applications to the preparation of the appointment proposal to the appointment hearing are of great importance for the university management of the University of Bayreuth. Consequently, appointment and contract negotiations at the University of Bayreuth are characterized by fairness, respect, transparency and reliability. The University of Bayreuth was recognized for this in 2018, being awarded the Seal of Quality of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV)) for fair and transparent appointment negotiations.

You are welcome to contact us if you have any questions about appointments:

Jana Hoffmann (in case of absence)
University of Bayreuth - Assistant to the University Governing Board
E-Mail: jana.hoffmann@uni-bayreuth.de
Phone: 0921 / 55-5386

Dr. Nicole Kaiser
University of Bayreuth - Assistant to the Provost
E-Mail: nicole.kaiser@uni-bayreuth.de
Phone: 0921 / 55-5384