Professional experience – a necessity for HAW professorships
Professorships at universities of applied sciences require a different career path than professorships at universities. The primary difference is the professional experience required. In almost all German state laws pertaining to universities, HAW professors are required to demonstrate at least five years of professional experience in their field, developing and applying scientific methods and findings. At least three of those five years of experience must have been acquired outside of the university environment.
There are exceptions: In Saxony-Anhalt, only three years of experience outside the university environment is required. In Brandenburg, three years of professional experience, with two of them outside the university, are required for an HAW professorship.
The curriculum vitae of an HAW professor, however, does not have to include the “additional scholarly achievements” that their counterparts at universities must have if they want to hold professorships, junior professorships or assistant professorships. The laws in most states in Germany do, however, allow for exceptions to the rules pertaining to the professional experience required of HAW professors. In “particularly justified exceptional cases,” HAW professorships can also be awarded based on the more academically oriented requirements expected of university professors.
What counts as professional experience for HAW professors?
The professional experience required differs from field to field. If you look through the curricula vitae of HAW professors in their respective fields, you will find a broad spectrum of professional backgrounds. Some only came to the realisation that they wanted to pass along their knowledge to students and applied for a professorship after several years of working in the private sector. And it is precisely this extensive professional experience that makes them attractive to HAWs. They are called universities of applied sciences for a reason.
Postdoc positions in the private sector present an opportunity to gain practical experience at a high level. But such positions are only available in an extremely limited number of fields outside of the university and research environment. When it comes to HAW professorships, by contrast, essentially any position that allows applicants to fully deploy their professional expertise is accepted as sufficient qualification.
It is, however, important that professional experience is relevant. That means there must be a clear correlation between the experience applicants have gathered and the subject they wish to teach. After all, the time spent working in the private sector serves as proof of the ability to teach and perform research in an application-oriented manner. Many HAWs expect that candidates’ experience was gathered as part of a fulltime position, but most are also satisfied with a part-time employment relationship.
Maintain contacts to the scientific world
As experience is gathered in the private sector, it is important that connections to the scientific world are not allowed to decay. Memberships in professional associations should be kept active and applicants should attend conferences periodically. More than anything, however, applicants should also accept regular teaching positions at universities of applied sciences. HAW professors must teach twice as many courses as their university counterparts – which means that teaching experience is a decisive advantage when applying.
Professional experience at non-university research institutions?
Employment at a non-university research institution can also be recognised as professional experience, though such experience is considered differently depending on the specific university of applied sciences. The applicability of the research the institute conducts is also an important consideration. A position at a Fraunhofer institute is generally accepted as fulfilling the requirement for professional experience outside the university environment, but a position at a Max Planck institute may not be, because the latter institutes tend to be primarily engaged in basic research.
Those who have spent their entire careers in research at universities and other institutes of higher learning, however, are less likely to be successful with an application for an HAW professorship. Applicants who have achieved habilitation, an academic level beyond Ph.D. that is required to obtain a university professorship in Germany, should expect to be asked during the application process why they are interested in working at a university of applied sciences.
In individual cases, habilitation can also be recognised as sufficient professional experience. Should applicants wish to go this route, however, they should highlight the practical application of their habilitation in their HAW professorship application. In situations where a specific HAW professorship has gone unfilled for an extended period due to a lack of qualified applicants, faculty search committees are more willing to make exceptions.
Furthermore, some German states now offer the option of tandem professorships or junior professorships. These models come with reduced teaching loads, allowing those holding such professorships to, in addition to teaching, collect the additional professional experience they need or to work on their dissertations.
Responsibilities of an HAW professor
The transmission of knowledge is the top priority of universities of applied sciences. Teaching obligations generally comprise 18 periods of class time of a duration of 45 minutes (semester hours) per week during the semester. In addition to class preparation and grading, obligations may also include administrative duties and research. Acquiring external funding is generally less crucial at universities of applied sciences than at universities, but with applied research becoming more of a priority, it is gaining in importance.
HAW professorships are frequently advertised with extremely precise requirements. But it is rare that any applicant meets all of those criteria. As such, it is important for applicants to consider in advance how the experience that they have amassed applies to the job profile advertised, and how the students at the university of applied sciences could benefit from any additional experience, networks and potential cooperation partners they might have at their disposal.
HAW professorships by the numbers
HAW professors receive less attention than their counterparts at universities, and yet they are almost as numerous. According to the Statista database, there were precisely 21,022 professors at universities of applied sciences in Germany in 2021. The legal framework for hiring professors at universities of applied sciences is the same as for universities: The professorships must be publicly advertised and an appointment (hiring) committee is tasked with determining the top candidates, who are then invited for interviews. The three best applicants are placed on the “appointment list,” and once that list is approved by the relevant bodies, the first-place candidate is offered the job.
Peculiarities pertaining to the job title of “professor” at universities of applied sciences
HAW educators also have the right to use the title “professor.” There is no difference here to university professors. There are, however, differences among the German states regarding the use of the title once professors are no longer actively employed. The title may continue to be used if the professor in question has reached retirement age or becomes unable to perform the job. In most states, however, there is an additional legal clause according to which, under certain conditions, the title may be retained after five or six years of service.
