Universitätsprofessor (Pay grade: W3 or W2)

Professor (W3)

Professor (W2)

Hochschuldozent (W2, only in ) – although paid like a professor appointed at level W2, lecturers in this position do not have a professor title; the term was formerly used in all states for senior lecturer positions with research and teaching responsibilities (C2, being phased out since 2002)

Baden-Württemberg

(not tenured, but increasingly with tenure track) (W1)

Juniorprofessor

Juniordozent (not tenured) (W1, only in Baden-Württemberg)

or Akademischer Rat/Oberrat/Direktor auf Lebenszeit (A13, A14, A15)

Studienrat

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (TVöD 13/14/15, TvL 13/14/15)

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter auf Zeit, Akademischer Rat auf Zeit (TVöD, TvL A13 a. Z.)

Akademischer Mitarbeiter auf Zeit (TVöD, only in Baden-Württemberg)

Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft (TdL)

Studentische Hilfskraft (TdL)

Appointment grades

Non-appointment grades

Administrative ranks

Professor (Prof.): Since about 2002 the standard title for full professors at universities in Germany.

Professor ordinarius (ordentlicher Professor, o. Prof., Univ. Prof.): professor with chair, representing the branch of science in question. In Germany, it was common to call these positions in colloquial use "C4" professorships, due to the name of the respective entry in the official salary table for (civil servant). (Following recent reforms of the salary system at universities,^[1] you might now find the denomination "W3 professor.") Today in most German federal states this title is obsolete for restaffing. Since 2002 all full professors at universities and applied universities are called "professor".

Beamte

Professor extraordinarius ("extraordinary professor", außerordentlicher Professor, ao. Prof.): professor without chair, often in a side-area, or being associated with a professor with a chair. In many states of Germany this is a special title, which gives full rights as for a full professor (such as supervision of PhD and habilitation, participation in all professorial meetings, right for a special opinion for a dissertation in its field of specialization etc. etc.). These positions are tenured and typically paid according to the W2 salary scale. In Prussia before the First World War, the average salary of full professors ("Ordinarius") was double that of associate professors and up to nine times that of professors at the beginning of their careers.

[2]

(Prof. em.): just like in North America (see above); used both for the ordinarius and for the extraordinarius, although strictly speaking only the former is entitled to be addressed in this way. Although retired and being paid a pension instead of a salary, a Prof. em. may still teach, give exams and often still have an office.

Professor emeritus

Junior Professor (Jun.-Prof.): this position started in 2002 in Germany, this is a 6-year time-limited professorship for inexperienced young scholars without . It is supposed to rejuvenate those who are eventually supposed to become professors ordinarius in other institutions. The concept is intensely debated due to a lack of experience with this new approach. The main criticism is that Juniorprofessors are expected to apply for professorships at other universities during the latter part of the six-year period, as their universities should not offer tenure themselves (unlike in the tenure track schemes used, e.g., in the USA). The number of academics appointed as 'junior professors' in Germany has risen from ca. 900 in 2008^[3] to ca. 1600 in 2014.^[4] Increasingly, the junior professorship is replaced by the tenure track model similar to that in the US, where a scholar without habilitation is hired and will get tenure (W2 or W3) after successful evaluation.

Habilitation

In other countries[edit]

Similar or identical systems as in Germany (where a Habilitation is required) are in place, e.g., in Austria, the German-speaking part of Switzerland (however in Switzerland the term is used as a more general honorary title in the Universities of Applied Sciences, the Fachhochschulen), as well as in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

In Poland, professor is an academic degree required to obtain the position of full (ordinary) professor. An extraordinary professorship is lower ranked, and does not require the professor title.

In some countries using the German-style academic system (e.g. Austria, Finland, Sweden), Professor is also an honorific title that can be bestowed upon an artist, scholar, etc., by the President or by the government, completely independent of any actual academic post or assignment.