Success for Chemnitz University of Technology in the Joint Federal-State Programme for the Promotion of Junior Scientists
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Photo: Jacob Müller
Chemnitz University of Technology is a successful participant in the Bund-Länder Programme for the Promotion of Young Scientists. Within the next three years, five so-called tenure-track professorships can be established, due to the university’s successful applications in the second round of the programme. This outcome is the result of a scientifically-led selection process, which was announced by the Chairpersons of the Joint Science Conference (GWK) and its selection panel on 12 September 2019 at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Of the five tenure-track professorships, one each is located at the Faculties of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science, and two are at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The corresponding framework was developed by them and submitted together with university management. “We are very pleased about the success in the scope of the joint federal-state programme for the promotion of junior scientists. The tenure track professorships strengthen the opportunities for junior scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology, as well as the three core competencies of Materials and Intelligent Systems, Resource-efficient Production and Lightweight Construction and Humans and Technology,” says Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, President of Chemnitz University of Technology. For each tenure-track professorship, the university will receive a donation of about 118,000 euros per year from the joint federal-state programme, for a maximum of ten years.
Background: Tenure-Track Professorship
The term “tenure track” describes a predictable path in one’s academic career. Young scientists and post-graduates receive a commitment to a usually higher-paid, lifetime professorship position that begins with a temporary appointment, so long as they fulfil defined performance requirements.
Background: Joint Federal-State Programme for the Promotion of Junior Scientists
Making career paths at universities easier to plan and more transparent – this is the goal of the Bund-Länder joint programme for the promotion of junior scientists. This programme focuses on securing the tenure track professorship as an independent career path, in addition to traditional forms of qualifying for a professorship at German universities. Young scientists will benefit from this process, as applicant universities must demonstrate a systemic personnel development concept that is based on the further development of career paths for junior scientists. Over the course of the programme, which runs from 2017 to 2032, the federal government will provide a total of up to one billion euros in two rounds of grants that fund 1,000 additional tenure-track professorships, and the funding is then secured by each federal state.
(Translation: Jeffrey Karnitz)
Mario Steinebach
16.09.2019
