Tenure Track assistant professorships are concluded with an evaluation considering promotion after six years at the latest. The evaluation also considers international colleagues and other members of the field. To this end, at first, a committee conducts a department-internal assessment. Afterwards, an assessment beyond the department is led by the Tenure & Promotion committee (TP committee). The committee ensures “university-wide quality assurance in appointing faculty positions within promotion procedures (Regl. TP committee, Art. 8). Afterwards, it initiates the finalizing steps.
The departments are responsible for conducting the mid-term and departmental (internal) evaluation. They define tenure criteria, the exact procedure, and responsibilities within the department-specific guidelines.
Tenure criteria are listed in the election resolution of assistant professors and differ by school (Law School, School of Computer Science, School of Economics and Political Science, School of Finance, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Management). Upon positive evaluation, the candidate is promoted to associate professor.
Associate professorships are open-ended positions without time limitation. Four years after beginning the associate professorship, a promotion request can be made. Exemptions can be justified by the dean. The individualized position profile within the context of strategic planning, or, if non-existent, the department-specific RELEAD profile for full professors, are the determining guidelines.
The dean is recipient of the request, which contains at least a current CV, a motivational letter, and a self-evaluation report along the individualized position profile within the context of strategic planning or the department-specific RELEAD criteria. Afterwards, a department-internal examination of the formal criteria is conducted. The dean opens a promotion dossier, in which the results are also later documented.
Once the position profile and the according strategic planning is passed by the department, the president assesses it. This assessment may have a positive result or be rejected due to objections regarding strategy or finances.
Given a positive result, the dossier is forwarded to the Tenure & Promotion Committee. It adds three suggestions for external evaluators made by the dean to the dossier. Subsequently, it steers the next steps, which consist of the review of three external evaluators, and a final internal complete qualification assessment. The committee documents the results in the dossier and initiates the final steps to conclude the promotion procedure.
Positively evaluated cases lead to a promotion meeting with the president, and the according election. Cases with a negative evaluation can be re-submitted after a minimum of two years.
Further specifications may be found in the according decree.