THWS wants to make its professorships more attractive to avoid falling behind in acquiring experts. ProPere tackles this task with a five-pillar concept.
The shortage of skilled workers is on everyone’s lips - and THWS is beginning to feel its impact. Finding suitable applicants for vacant professorships has become a real challenge, says THWS Vice President Professor Dr. Gabriele Saueressig. And demand is high: “Within the next six years we need to fill or re-staff about 85 professorships”, states Saueressig. This is a major share considering that there are about 240 professorships at THWS.
THWS is by far not alone with the difficulties in finding suitable candidates. Already in 2016, a study by the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies showed that one of two professorships at higher education institutions could not be filled. Suitable candidates’ income in industry and commerce are considerably higher, and universities are competitors on the labour market. What’s more is the increase in professorships in the area of Artificial Intelligence due to the Bavarian Hightech Agenda. There is a lack in qualified applicants, particularly regarding innovative technical topics, as they are required to cover the teaching area, must hold a doctorate, and must have years of professional experience.
THWS wants to counter these developments with the ProPere project, short for Professorial Personnel recruitment and development at THWS. Thus, THWS is conducting a major project over six years (until 2027), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. “We are one of the higher education institutions to have procured a major project with five subprojects and various measures”, says Professor Dr. Saueressig, who acts as lead project manager. The major project is divided into five pillars which are run in parallel since June 2021: New recruiting and qualification measures, increased visibility, HR development, junior staff development and improved reconciliation of work and family life.
THWS strives to raise awareness
In a first step, potential candidates must be made aware of the possibility of becoming a professor. “Many qualified individuals do not even consider this offer“, says Professor Dr. Saueressig. This is because you cannot become a professor right after completing your degree: For a professorship at THWS, candidates must not only hold a doctorate but must also have at least five years of relevant professional experience.
Hence, internal promotion of junior researchers is a key part of the ProPere project, which is effected in particular by THWS-wide alumni marketing as graduates are one of the potential target groups for professorial candidates. Workshops were initiated to combine alumni associations of various faculties into one cross-departmental network for alumni marketing.
In order to appear on the radar of potential applicants, one of ProPere’s other pillars is visibility. Because of this, suitable candidates might find a proposal for a professorship in their LinkedIn inbox. Contacting candidates directly is considered a suitable means for encouraging applications. This method is complemented with marketing and campaigns to promote the visibility of THWS as regional employer of professors.
Facilitating the start of professorial careers
In future, THWS wants to enable individuals to take up a professorship, even if they do not meet all the requirements. The innovative recruiting and qualification measures are aimed at exploring new opportunities to recruit professors. Junior professorships offer candidates the chance to complete missing requirements. Individuals who have completed a doctorate but are missing job experience can participate in a tandem programme to gain practical experience by cooperating with companies. And also vice versa: Individuals with the required work experience can still complete their doctorate. “Employing junior professors is new to higher education institutions - legal bases are being worked out in the Bavarian Higher Education Innovation Act”, Professor Dr. Gabriele Saueressig says.
Attractive working conditions
“ProPere mainly focusses on recruiting professorial staff, but we also want to create attractive framework conditions for well-established professors“, emphasises Saueressig. The academic per-sonnel development of the ProPere is aimed at existing staff. As part of this project pillar, a wel-come package for new professors was already created. During campus tours, newly appointed professors could experience the THWS locations in Würzburg and Schweinfurt. “We want to make the onboarding process as pleasant as possible”, says project team member Katharina Palm. “The best part about the first campus tour was that the whole University gathered, which created a nice atmosphere, and the newly appointed professors could get to know everyone.”
Reconciliation of work and family life is also an important criterion for applications. Thus, THWS plans to become a certified family-friendly higher education institution and therefore currently un-dergoes an audit process. A total of eight fields of activity, including child care, opportunities to work part-time or remote work, form the criteria.
With ProPere, THWS has taken up a major task with high goals. Even though its official start was on 1 June 2021, the project has only started to gain momentum with the hiring of the project team. THWS Vice President and Lead Project Manager says: “We are now adjusting the milestone plan accordingly and want to accelerate individual implementation steps.” The University ought to act fast in order to successfully compete for qualified professionals.
Click here to listen to the podcast "Professorships: Struggle for skilled workers" (podcast in German/English transcript available)
Bavarian Hightech Agenda
In 2019, the Free State of Bavaria started the technology offensive Bavarian Hightech Agenda. Combined with the Hightech Agenda Plus, the Free State of Bavaria invests about 3.5 billion euro in this funding initiative, which is unique in Germany. The Hightech Agenda includes four concerted programmes:
- Promotion of AI and Supertech
- Restructuring and acceleration for higher education institutions and mobile communications
- Higher education reform
- Mittelstandsoffensive für die bayerische Wirtschaft: Unterstützung bei der digitalen Transformation. (only available in German)