New perspectives for permanent positions alongside the professorship
Freiburg, 01/06/2026
The University of Freiburg is strengthening attractive and secure career paths in academia: on 29 April 2026, the Senate adopted the ‘Framework for Permanent Positions Alongside Professorships’. In doing so, the University is establishing, for the first time, a binding framework for senior permanent academic posts alongside professorships and is strengthening long-term career prospects in research, teaching and research-related academic administration.
On 29 April 2026, the University of Freiburg Senate adopted the ‘Framework for Permanent Positions Alongside Professorships’. At the heart of the framework are the three role profiles: “Lecturer”, “Researcher” and “Academic Manager”. These offer qualified researchers long-term career development opportunities whilst making an important contribution to the university’s strategic development. The role profiles are supplemented by guidelines for staff structure planning and recruitment.
The framework is the result of a broad-based participatory process spanning several years. Representatives of various staff groups from academia and administration, as well as interest groups, worked together to develop its structure. The University of Freiburg is thus implementing a key component of its commitment to attractive, sustainable and equitable career paths, which the Senate had adopted in October 2025.
“With this new framework, we are creating concrete and reliable prospects for academic careers beyond the professorship. In doing so, we are enhancing the appeal of Freiburg as a centre of academic excellence whilst making an important contribution to the further development of career paths and staffing structures within the German academic system,” says Dr Ramona Wurst, Head of Academic Personnel Development, who was responsible for developing the framework in collaboration with the Vice Rectorate for University Culture.
With this decision, the University of Freiburg is building on its long-standing commitment to reliable career paths. Following the early establishment of the tenure-track professorship, this is now another important step towards permanent positions alongside full professorships.