Appointment procedures

An appointment procedure is usually initiated by a release request from the respective Department Chair to the Executive Board via the Appointments Team (appointments@utn.de). In the general appointment procedure, the appointment committees are composed as follows:

• Professors from the department
• One representative of the academic staff (doctoral candidates and postdocs)
• One representative of the students (deputization is possible)
• The Representative for Gender Equality in Science and the Arts or her deputy
• One professor from another department
• At least one external expert
• The chair is held by the respective department chair

The members each have one vote. The majority of the members from the group of university lecturers must be closely related to the subject.

If a procedure is carried out without a call for applications (direct appointment), the Founding Executive Board can decide in its approval that the appointment procedure should be simplified. Simplifications can, for example, affect the work of the appointment committee or the committee process.

In the special appointment procedure, the Founding President appoints an appointment committee in which two Founding Chairs are represented. In addition, the composition of the appointment committee is the same as in the general appointment procedure. In addition, as in the case of direct appointments, procedural simplifications can be decided by the Executive Board.

The appointment committee or the appointment commission meets in sessions. In procedures with a call for applications, these are usually 4 or 5 meetings.

• 1st meeting – Determining the selection criteria
  In the first meeting, the appointment committee agrees on the selection procedure, the operationalization of the criteria according to which the applicants will be assessed and their weighting. This takes place before the application documents are viewed. The committee also has the opportunity to motivate suitable candidates, especially female candidates, to apply.
• 2nd meeting – Pre-selection
  The second meeting takes place after the application deadline and comprises the review of the applications and the pre-selection. Once the committee has determined this in its first meeting, a meeting is then held to read the publications, at which the candidates from the pre-selection are examined again on the basis of their publications.
• 3rd meeting – Interviews
  Once the committee has agreed on a group of suitable applicants, they are invited to a meeting where they can present themselves in lectures and interviews. These meetings are usually held at the UTN in the form of symposia open to the public. In the subsequent interviews, the candidates then speak individually with the appointment committee. At the same time, the other candidates have the opportunity to talk to a member of the Founding Presidium and members of the department, as well as to visit the interim building or the campus under construction.

Scientific review
The scientific review by external reviewers will take place at the same time or after the symposium. At least two reviews, which should generally be comparative, will be obtained.

• 4th meeting – List decision
  The committee then meets for the last time, assesses the expert opinions and draws up a shortlist of usually three names, which it then recommends to the Founding Executive Committee.
  An appointment procedure with a call for applications takes an average of 6 months.

In the case of an appointment procedure without an advertisement (direct appointment), 2 meetings are usually held. At the first meeting, the candidate’s documents are discussed and he or she answers the committee’s questions in an interview. At the second meeting, the expert opinions are discussed, which are either received in writing by then or presented orally at the meeting. The committee then decides whether to recommend the person in question for the professorship. A direct appointment takes an average of 2 months.

During an appeal procedure, all parties involved are obliged to maintain confidentiality. All cases in which there is a concern of bias are examined at any time during the procedure Depending on the facts of the case, this may lead to the temporary or complete removal of the biased committee members and/or experts.

Once the appointments committee has decided on a list ranking, any opinions on the appointment proposal are obtained. These are the opinion of the person responsible for the degree program in the respective department and, if applicable, the opinion of the representative body for severely disabled persons. The Commissioner for Gender Equality in Science and the Arts can also submit a statement. Statements can also be submitted by professors of the respective department. All documents are then submitted to the Founding Board for information, subject to the opinion of the Founding Commission. Once the founding commission has issued its opinion, the founding president can accept the list, change the ranking, reject it and/or return it to the appointments committee. The founding president then issues the appointment.

The letter of appointment informs the candidate of the intended appointment and asks for a basic willingness to accept the appointment. Once this has been done, the candidate submits their concept, which describes the planned research projects and the necessary personnel, financial and material resources. In addition, the candidate submits his or her salary expectations.

The negotiation meeting is divided into two parts: The personnel, financial and material resources are negotiated between the candidate, founding president, chancellor and department chair. Personal remuneration is only negotiated between the candidate and the founding president and chancellor. The offer of appointment is then drawn up and sent to the candidate with a deadline for acceptance. If he or she accepts the offer, the formal steps for appointment are initiated.

At least two weeks before the appointment, the unsuccessful candidates will be informed of the outcome of the procedure. This is done by means of the so-called competitor notification.