Developing academic career paths
Developing academic career paths in the mid-level faculty
The development of academic career paths is a key topic in the advocacy of the KRAM. The KRAM has been following the development and plans related to the so-called tenure-track-positions for non-professorial academic staff since 2016. From September 2023 until February 2025, a working group convened by the University Executive Board, of which KRAM was part, undertook an evaluation of these positions and drafted guidelines for the development of these academic career paths alongside a professorship. Since June 2025, a follow-up working group focuses on the perspectives and needs for adjustments in other categories of positions in the heterogenous academic mid-level faculty. In this format, as in others, the KRAM advocates for better employment conditions and more predictable career paths at the University of Bremen.
Background
Since 2018 the University of Bremen has been testing alternative career paths alongside a professorship with the categories of (Senior) Lecturer and (Senior) Researcher. The positions, which structurally form a part of the academic mid-level faculty, are supposed to allow holders the development of an independent profile in research and teaching. Similar to a junior professorship (Juniorprofessur), the holders of a position are initially hired on a fixed-term contract and tenured subject to a successful evaluation (additional academic achievements specified in an agreement on targets). The positions are directly allocated to a discipline or Faculty. The newly established categories of academic positions received their legal basis with the adoption of the 4th Amendment to the Higher Education Act of Bremen (BremHG). In February 2018, the Academic Senate adopted the statutes and regulations governing the selection and evaluation of Junior Professors with tenure-track as well as for (Senior) Lecturers and (Senior) Reseachers. The former category of “University Lecturer” (Universitätslektor:in) continues to exist independently of the new tenure-track positions.
