Appointment procedure for professors

From application to appointment

Professorships are awarded in an appointment procedure. This is a lengthy process that takes several months. As an applicant, it often pays to be patient until you finally receive a response to your application.

An appointment procedure consists of the following steps¹:

Steps in the appointment procedure

1. Application

2. Review of applications

3. Trivial lecture and interview

You will give a trial lecture for students from the university. This will enable your professional and teaching skills to be assessed. It is very important to involve the students when giving your trial lecture at a university of applied sciences.

After your lecture, the students will deliver their vote. This has a special significance for the appointment committee.

This is followed by an interview with the appointment committee.

4. Appointment proposal

5. Appointment negotiations and acceptance of appointment

6. Start work as a UAS professor!

1) Procedure in Lower Saxony. In other federal states, the individual steps in the process are partly organized differently. Please refer to the higher education acts of the individual federal states for information on their procedures.

Current vacancies at HAWK

Vacancies at HAWK

(you can filter by professorships)

Questions, support and qualification

Ask professors at HAWK!

Teaching assignment at HAWK

Teaching assignments offer excellent opportunities to acquire pedagogical and didactic experience. You will also gain an insight into everyday university life and the job of a professor at a university of applied sciences and will be able to establish important contacts.

Would you like to take on a teaching assignment? We will be happy to put you in touch with HAWK professors in your subject area. Please contact Ann-Kathrin Goudarzi.

Follow this link to discover the six HAWK faculties and their specializations.

Advisory services and qualification programmes

A doctorate? Yes please!

Work experience – yes please!

To become a professor at a university of applied sciences, you generally need at least five years of professional experience. At least three years of this must have been gained somewhere other than at university (e.g. in industry, in public institutions, as a self-employed person).
Professional experience counts from the first professionally qualifying university degree, provided it is your main occupation (at least a 50% post).

Your work experience does not have to be carried out in one go. So make sure you note down all the evidence concerning your professional experience at an early stage, including evidence of periods of self-employment.

Dedicated email newsletter for job advertisements

You can find job advertisements for academic positions throughout Germany at www.academics.de.

To be kept informed about vacancies for professorships in your subject area, you can subscribe to the Projekt PROfessur email distribution list. Every fortnight you will receive the latest job advertisements from numerous partner universities. The aim of the PROfessur project is to recruit women for a professorship at a university of applied sciences and thus addresses women.

Become a professor

Career prospects as a professor at a university of applied sciences (UAS)

Learn more