Appointment procedure

The procedure on the appointment of professors is ruled in § 26 Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (‘Niedersächsisches Hochschulgesetz’ – NHG), additional provisions are derived from §§ 25 and 26 of the Statutes of the Georg-August-University Göttingen. Professors’ chairs are accordingly established and approved in consideration of the development plan of the University and the faculties by resolution of the Presidential Board. Basically, professors’ chairs must be publicly called for. Responsible is the Presidential Board that gets the draft by the respective Faculty Council. The appointment proposal is prepared by an Appointment Commission set up by the Faculty Council mutually with the Presidential Board and which submits a recommendation after the introduction of the candidates. The appointment procedure is accompanied by an Appointment Representative. The Faculty Council decides on the appointment proposal and submits it to the Senate, which makes a statement combined with a vote of the equal opportunities commissioner and presents it to the Presidential Board. The Presidential Board decides on the appointment proposal. Since the foundation University Göttingen has the right to appoint, the Presidential Board calls the successful applicant for appointment by agreement with the Foundation’s University Committee. The appointment negotiations are conducted by the respective responsible department member to the Presidential Board with regard to both the HR as well as the factual furnishing of the professors’ chair and the individual pay.
For the appointment of professors’ chairs it is also possible to conduct joint appointment procedures with research facilities that are not members of a university. In these cases a cooperation agreement between the research facility and the University is concluded.
The employment pursuant to appointment acceptance generally occurs in a civil service contract provided that the preconditions are met, otherwise as professor in an employment contract.