Legal and organisational matters

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

Composition

In line with the regulations on granting a tenure-track professorship, the Leibniz Tenure Board must consist of two external academics of international repute from each of the 'engineering', 'natural sciences', and 'humanities and social sciences' clusters.

The members of the Leibniz-Tenure-Board are appointed by the presidential board, in agreement with the Senate and the equal opportunities officer, for a five-year period. The term of office can be extended once for a further five years.

The Leibniz-Tenure-Board is chaired by the vice president for human resources development who has no voting rights. If the person cannot be present, another member of the presidential board will substitute.

Duties

As stated in the regulations, the Leibniz-Tenure-Board is responsible for all procedures that grant a tenure-track professorship. It makes a statement to the presidential board based on the report by the professor on tenure track and two external structured expert reports in line with the presidential board’s handout on conducting tenure-track procedures.

The Leibniz-Tenure-Board selects the experts. The experts receive the report by the professor on tenure track and the evaluation criteria from the Leibniz-Tenure-Board, as well as a list of questions, which is structured based on the handout from the presidential board on conducting tenure-track procedures. The Senate and presidential board’s handout on conflicts of interest regarding the appointment procedure must be complied with when selecting experts.

The statement by the Leibniz-Tenure-Board to the presidential board include an outline and a critical evaluation of the candidat's research and an assessment of the further development of the professorship and the subject with regard to the evaluation criteria. The Leibniz Tenure Board makes a recommendation to the presidential board whether the professor concerned should be awarded tenure.

Meetings

The Leibniz Tenure Board usually convenes twice a year if tenure track decisions need to be taken.