In its staff development concept, Friedrich Schiller University Jena has designated an extra chapter to the Tenure-Track professorship as career path. The following excerpt has been translated for your interest (Please note: original document in German; this translation is not legally binding):
Friedrich Schiller University Jena seeks to provide its excellent young researchers with attractive perspectives regarding their work and further career on a long-term basis. Young researchers should find a professional and scientific environment that is open to their own impulses and active participation, and that empowers them to engage in national and international world-class research already at an early stage in their career.
At the same time, the university is aiming to lower the academic age of young researchers at the time of their first appointment. Furthermore, it seeks to strengthen their early academic independence and self responsibility, and to raise the percentage of female professors on campus. The university hopes to thus further improve both plannability and transparency of academic career paths.
To aid the realisation of an appointment and career concept acc. to § 78 Sec. 1 Sentence 4 No 4 of ThürHG, the University has issued a statute on the recruiting of Tenure-Track professors ("Tenure-Track-Satzung") in May 2017. This statute rules over the procedures according to which a temporarily time-limited job position as junior professor (W1) may finally be transformed into a W2 or W3 position after a positive tenure evaluation, acc. § 82 ThürHG. Furthermore, it rules over the procedure for time-limited W2 professorships with tenure that are to be finally transformed into a W3 position after a positive evaluation.
To support the realisation of the Tenure-Track Programme, there will be a central coordinator and additional personnel employed in the Human Resources Department and the Graduate-Academy, to accompany the Tenure-Track procedures and to integrate the respective protagonists of the different project parts.
Important Factors for a successful realisation of the programme:
To prepare Tenure-Track professors for their future responsibilities in teaching and research, as well as for their role as a leader in their field, there will be a comprehensive and demand-oriented qualification programme designed and established specifically for Tenure-Track professors. The qualification offers are intended to help the professors to develop the necessary knowledge and competencies to succesfully inhabit their professorship. On the other hand, the obtained competencies are to be part of the Tenure-Track evaluation needed to turn their position into a permanent W2 or W3 professoral position.
Not only does Friedrich Schiller University Jena suport the successful realisation and accompaniment of the Tenure-Track Programme at site in Jena. It also aims at more comprehensive measures for its scientific personnel, and a nationwide network on the levels of both professors and universities.