University of Jena is a "University with Strong Gender Equality"

Friedrich Schiller University Jena is being funded by the federal and state governments as part of the Female Professors Programme (Professorinnenprogramm) 2030. The equality concept for parity submitted for the programme was evaluated positively by an independent review panel. As one of only 22 of a total of 92 successful institutions of higher education, the University of Jena has also been recognized as a "University with Strong Gender Equality" ("Gleichstellungsstarke Hochschule") and can therefore apply for additional funds.

"We are very pleased about this," says Prof. Dr Uwe Cantner. "The fact that we have once again been awarded the title of 'University with Strong Gender Equality' is confirmation that we as a University have once again made good progress towards gender equality," says the Vice-President for Early Career Researchers and Diversity Management at the University of Jena. He emphasizes the consistency and high quality of gender equality efforts: the University's gender equality concept submitted in the previous funding round was also commended.

The University of Jena has participated in all four funding phases of the Female Professors Programme since 2008 and has been able to finance eight professorships to date. In the current round of the programme, up to three professorships can once again be filled with high-profile female academics. Having been awarded the title of "University with Strong Gender Equality", the Friedrich Schiller University will also be able to apply for additional funding to support a female early career researcher with the prospect of a lifetime professorship.

Strengthening equality through targeted measures

"We will use the funds that this frees up to finance equality-promoting and family-friendly measures to support women studying STEM subjects, female early career researchers and female professors," says Annette Wagner-Baier, Executive Assistand in the Office of the Vice-President. "The development of gender sensitivity and competence among management staff is also a priority." For example, STEM offers for schoolgirls, mentoring programmes for female first-year STEM students, follow-up funding for parental leave in third-party funded projects and networking and empowerment offers for female professors are already being implemented. According to Wagner-Baier, the renewed funding means that the University of Jena's gender equality work remains on a solid foundation.

The Joint Science Conference (GWK) adopted the Female Professors Programme 2030 in November 2022. The programme was first launched in 2008. The aim of the funding programme, which builds on the successful previous three programme phases and has been strengthened in terms of content, is to dynamically increase the number of female professors towards parity, to promote female early career researchers and artists on the path to a lifetime professorship and to keep them in academia, and to anchor gender equality at higher education institutions even more firmly on a structural level.