W2 professorships – an overview of salaries
W2 salaries are not the same everywhere. Owing to differing state regulations, there are significant differences within Germany, as can clearly be seen from the following table. The highest base salary is received by HAW professors in Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, while those in Bremen, Hamburg and Brandenburg earn the least.
The W3 salary group
Because HAW professorships focus primarily on teaching, W3 professorships are rare. In certain instances, however, so-called “specialist professorships” (Schwerpunktprofessuren in German) can be created, in which the teaching load is reduced to provide more time for research work. These specialist professorships are remunerated according to the W3 scale. The number of W3 professorships is limited to a small number by law (e.g. 15 percent).
In the W3 salary group, the pay gap between German states is again significant. Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Saxony and Hesse pay the highest W3 base salaries, while Bremen, Brandenburg and Hamburg pay the lowest.
W1: Remuneration of junior professors
Like W3 professorships, junior professorships used to be rare at universities of applied sciences. But because of staff shortages, more and more federal states are now relying on so-called next generation professorships ("Nachwuchsprofessur") or tandem professorships.
This means that applicants who do not yet fulfil all the necessary requirements (completed Ph.D. and professional experience) can assume teaching duties while simultaneously working at a cooperating company or finishing their dissertation. As a rule, they hold half-time positions and are remunerated according to the W1 scale.