A junior professorship offers young academics the opportunity to independently carry out research and teach at an early stage in their career, as well as to qualify for a permanent professorship position. More than twenty junior professors are currently teaching and researching at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne.

With the establishment of junior professorship positions, a career path was created that will enable junior academics to gain timely and independent access to a full professorship. In practice, however, this also means a wide range of tasks and challenges that junior professors have to deal with on a daily basis. Therefore, the following resources are available for junior professors at the faculty and university:

• Junior Faculty Clubs
• Didactic Courses of the Quality Management Office of the Faculty
• Internal Training Courses

Within the framework of her office as Vice Dean, Prof. Dr. Garbiele von Glasenapp is responsible for Junior Professors. For queries about junior professorships, please contact the Vice Dean's Office for Staff, Equality and Diversity of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

The tenure track process is intended to open up attractive career prospects for excellent young academics at the University of Cologne.

Academics in the tenure track process are given the opportunity, following a successful mid-term evaluation, to obtain an extension of their existing employment or service relationship or, following a successful final evaluation, to be transferred to a permanent employment at the University of Cologne. At the end of the successful Tenure Track procedure, the Tenure Track candidate is permanently appointed to a professorship.

The mid-term evaluation is held at the end of the third year and the final evaluation at the end of the sixth year.

The evaluation procedure is governed by the Regulations for Quality Assurance in Tenure Track Procedures of the University of Cologne as per 07.06.2018.

Process:

• Invitation to submit the structured self-evaluation report (Dean's Office provides templates)
• Submission of the self-evaluation report
• Advice in the Faculty Tenure Commission in consultation with external experts
• Recommendation of the Faculty Tenure Commission to the (Extended) Narrower Faculty
• Recommendation of the Narrower Faculty to the Rectorate Tenure Commission
• Recommendation of the Rectorate Tenure Commission to the Rector
• Decision in the Rectorate and, possibly, contract extension/consolidation