The Tenure Track Appointment Process at RWTH

 

Aside from the junior professorship, which is a limited duration position, RWTH has established tenure track professorship positions. Researchers appointed to such a position may advance their career through the tenure track process and, upon successful evaluation, be appointed to a permanent position.

The process places special emphasis on transparency and quality assurance. For each professorship, evaluation criteria are defined by the Faculty’s tenure committee. Subsequently, these criteria are further developed in collaboration with the University’s central tenure committee and presented to the Rector’s Office.

Evaluation criteria from the areas of research & development, teaching, and academic achievement must be defined before the position is advertised. In this process, the individual characteristics of the relevant disciplinary culture are to be taken into account. The criteria must be clearly defined and conform to international standards.

The tenure evaluation committee, which is made up of both members of the RWTH tenure committee and members of the respective faculty tenure committee, finally verifies whether all evaluation criteria are being met. They furthermore decide whether or not to later offer transition to a permanent position.

Division 8.5 – Appointment Management and Civil Service is responsible for coordinating and supporting the tenure track process. Furthermore, the division maintains the tenure dossier which documents the performance and evaluation of the candidates.