Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has identified human resources development in the area of scientific personnel as a strategic sphere of activity, which has been positioned in a vice presidency for human resources development and structure. Transparent and quality controlled career paths have been established for all phases of the scientific career, from the PhD to the postdoctoral time to the qualification phase for a professor position. This addresses careers leading out of the academic sphere as well as those staying in it. Within MLU, the qualification for a professor position can be obtained in the frame of a habilitation, as leader of a junior research group or via a junior professor position with or without tenure track.
Already in the year 2005 the senate of MLU established junior professors with tenure track as a career path, however, this path has not been pursued systematically yet. The MLU has set itself the target to achieve a culture change in the usage of the career path junior professor with tenure track across the complete board of disciplines, and to establish it permanently and to an adequate degree in all faculties of MLU. In the project phase, all faculties will install one additional junior professor with tenure track. On a continuing basis, about 10% of all professor positions will be filled in this way. As the junior professor usually leads to a W2 professor position, this means that about 20% of all W2 professor positions will be filled in this way in the future. Besides the junior professors, the habilitation and the junior research group leader positions will remain typical career paths.
In addition to the scientific mentoring of all qualification steps within the faculties, MLU has formulated a human resources development concept for all stages of the scientific career. It contains coaching and continuing education offers and social support in questions of administration and personnel and diversity management.