Legal and organisational background of the Leibniz Tenure Board

Below, information is provided regarding the legal principles, structure and responsibilities of the Leibniz Tenure Board.

Members

In accordance with the ordinance governing the grant of life-long professorship within the scope of the tenure track process, the Leibniz Tenure Board should comprise two external, internationally qualified researchers from each of the research clusters "engineering", "natural sciences" and "humanities and social sciences".

In agreement with the senate and the university’s central equal opportunities representative, the presidential board appoints members of the Leibniz Tenure Board for the duration of five years. The tenure period can be extended once for a further five years.

The Leibniz Tenure Board is chaired by the vice president for appointment matters, human resources development and continuing education; the chairperson has no voting rights. In the event of the chairperson’s absence, another member of the presidential board will act on their behalf.

Responsibilities

According to the ordinance, the Leibniz Tenure Board is responsible in all procedures concerning granting life-long professorship, within the scope of the tenure track process. A statement is submitted by the Leibniz Tenure Board to the presidential board, based on the self-evaluation of the tenured professor and two externally obtained, structured expert reviews, in accordance with the guidelines of the presidential board, for implementation of the tenure track process.

The expert reviewers are selected by the Leibniz Tenure Board. The Leibniz Tenure Board provides the expert reviewers with the self-evaluation and assessment criteria, as well as a list of questions drafted according to the guidelines of the presidential board, for implementation of the tenure track process. When selecting the expert reviewers, the guidelines of the senate and presidential board concerning bias in the appointment process shall be observed.

The statement of the Leibniz Tenure Board comprises a description and critical evaluation of the research and an estimation of the further development of the professorship and the field, in view of the assessment criteria. The Leibniz Tenure Board submits a recommendation to the presidential board, whether the tenured professor should be granted life-long professorship.

Meetings

In general, Leibniz Tenure Board meetings take place twice a year, provided that tenure track decisions need to be made.