The University of Greifswald (UG) considers the recruitment and support of junior researchers, paving the way for scientific careers and gaining the most talented heads for research and teaching to be one of its central tasks. Another important task is the qualification of young professionals for career paths outside the world of science.
In the competition for the greatest minds, the visibility and attractiveness resulting from the internationally competitive research must be accompanied by an attractive staff development concept for junior researchers and academic staff members. This is especially relevant due to the effects of the demographic change in a peripheral, structurally weak region, with an ageing society and a partially dramatic decrease in population caused by migration of mainly young, well-educated women and thus a loss of workforce potential.
In order to fulfil its central tasks, UG plans to increase the transparency and plannability of careers for junior researchers by expanding its career system through the introduction of additional TT professorships which will enhance its attractiveness as an academic institution. Based on its staff development concept, UG will therefore put additional measures into practice to optimise the staff structure, to promote careers inside and outside of the University, to implement the TT professorships and to further improve compatibility.
In so doing, UG purposefully expands the existing broad range of offers of advice, qualification and support, and also structures for careers within or outside the University.
The extensive offers include measurements taken to increase the proportion of female professors through active recruitment, to create a virtual career portal, the expansion of start-up funding, the establishment of an advisory group for TT professorships, and an incentive and compensation system to develop the TT model and its systemic consolidation.