Following the doctorate, the next career step is often a position as a postdoc. The following is a summary of the most important information on how this career phase can be structured.
The path to a professorship is often rocky and for a long time led exclusively via the habilitation. This has changed in the meantime: In addition to junior research group leaders, junior professorships also make it possible to qualify for a professorship. Here, the teaching and research activities of regular professorships are carried out: In addition to research, which is not subject to directives, lectures can be held and examinations taken. If the junior professorship is equipped with a tenure option, a successful junior professorship enables the transition to a full professorship - without additional advertisements and appointment procedures. The suc-cess of a junior professorship (whether with or without tenure track) is determined by interim evaluations and a final evaluation, in which performance in teaching and research as well as academic self-administration are assessed. In the case of a positive final evaluation, tenure-track professorships at the University of Tübingen also include a public lecture at the university.
A junior professorship is designed for six years, with an interim evaluation after two or three years deciding whether the employment relationship is continued.
The exact application modalities can be found in the job advertisements. As a rule, the position is advertised internationally and there is a multi-stage application procedure. The basic requirement for an application is a good to very good doctorate, relevant publications and pedagogical aptitude.
In Germany, professorships are paid according to the so-called W pay scale (https://www.hochschulverband.de/index.php?id=w-besoldung#_). Since the federal states decide on the basic salaries of civil servants and employees, there are sometimes serious dif-ferences here. As a rule, junior professorships are paid according to the W1 pay scale.
