Based on a lawful professorial appointment management system and a successful strategy for the promotion of W1 junior professors – both established for a long time – the University of Oldenburg (UOL) has solidly implemented tenure track professorships as a career path for early career researchers. Striving for continuous support of early career researchers on their way to professorships, the UOL will realize all ten granted tenure track professorships as W1 professorship chairs (to be tenured as W2) on the basis of clearly defined structural criteria. The university has formed the legal grounds for the implementation of this career path along defined criteria and in accordance with quality standards with the adoption of the tenure track statute and the corresponding executive regulations. Furthermore, the tenure track professorships have been integrated into the university’s professorial tableau as part of its structural planning. The UOL aims to fill 25% of its vacating professorial positions with W1 tenure track professors. Detailed information on the tenure track procedure is available on the website of the UOL.
The promotion of a university-wide culture of responsibility regarding future established researchers has been of central and strategic importance to the UOL for a long time. Thus, human resource development and the structural pl anning of academic staff, especially regarding early career researchers, go hand in hand, thereby creating favorable conditions for this group overall. To this end, the university purposely integrates all career stages from doctoral researchers up to tenure track professors into its concept in order to facilitate the transition between career phases. Currently, the UOL – with special attention to advanced early career researchers – emphasizes the transparent organization of the recruiting process, the possibility to plan careers, the strengthening of leadership responsibility, and the compatibility of work and family life.