Tenure and promotion process

Tenure and promotion process

Unlike most universities in Germany, where the appointment, promotion and tenure process of faculty is very different from international standards, KLU’s process is very similar to an international tenure track.

Young assistant professor are normally appointed on a 3-year temporary contract, which can be extended for a further 3 years upon satisfactory development. In the sixth year of appointment at KLU, the faculty member involved applies for tenure by submission of his or her tenure dossier. The tenure submission needs to be supported by the Head of the Department that the faculty member belong to, and the Dean of Research, who both are a member of the tenure evaluation committee.

The tenure evaluation committee is instructed to provide a holistic evaluation of the performance of the faculty member in terms of research (including research output in academic journals), teaching (including student evaluations), outreach (including impact on the field) and university service. The tenure committee usually requests external independent experts to provide a written evaluation of the academic standing of the applicant. The tenure evaluation committee makes a recommendation to the Academic Senate, who then votes on the tenure decision and makes a recommendation to the KLU President. The President has a final decision.

Tenured faculty will be contracted for indefinite duration, until mandatory retirement (currently at age 67).

Subsequently, depending on performance, faculty typically would apply for promotion to full professor after 4-6 years.

It is important to note that once an assistant professor is appointed to a tenure-track position, KLU has budgeted for the eventual tenure and promotion, independent of how other faculty perform. The evaluation is just based on the merit of the faculty member concerned.

Note: this document provides a legally non-binding overview of the tenure process at KLU. The process is formally governed in KLU’s tenure and promotion regulations