Postdoctoral / Habilitation Program

For questions regarding habilitation, please contact:

Eva Moses
Georges-Köhler-Allee 101
Room 101 02 030
Phone: +49 761 203 8080
E-Mail: moses@tf.uni-freiburg.de

General Information

A habilitation is the recognition of special qualifications in research and teaching in one of the fields of the Faculty of Engineering. On the basis of a successful habilitation you will receive the qualification to teach at the university level in a specific scientific field. Fields in which you can receive a habilitation at the Faculty of Engineering are Computer Science and Microsystems Engineering.

Obtaining the postdoctoral teaching qualification consists of three parts:

The habilitation thesis or publication(s) demonstrating your research qualifications
A scientific presentation (including a discussion) which demonstrates your competence (more information regarding the scientific presentation)
A class lecture which demonstrates your teaching and educational skills

Requirements

Applicants must hold a PhD degree from a German university or an equivalent from a foreign university.

Habilitation procedure / Notification of submission

Before submitting your application for habilitation you must secure a mentor at the Faculty of Engineering who is willing to support your habilitation procedure.

Before you officially submit your habilitation application and the habilitation procedure is opened, you should introduce yourself to the faculty. Please contact the dean first with the following documents (which you will also need later for your official habilitation application):

Curriculum vitae

List of publications (a link to a Google Scholar profile is sufficient, as long as it is cleaned of errors)

List of courses taught (including the title of the course, the semester, the semester hours, and your share in it if more than one person was responsible for the course).

Your request will then be discussed in the next possible professors' meeting of the institute belonging to your subject (Computer Science, IMTEK or INATECH) and in the next following deans' meeting (both meetings are usually held bi-weekly). If there are no objections, you will be invited to give a 30-minute talk to the habilitation committee (which includes all professors of the faculty), in which you present your field of work and, in particular, your research achievements since the PhD. Afterwards, there will be about 15 minutes for questions and then the habilitation committee will deliberate for about 15 minutes. The dean can then inform you on the same day whether the faculty is in favor of submitting a habilitation application. Lecture dates are usually on Thursdays from 3 - 4 p.m., usually the first Thursday of the month.

Habilitation application
You submit the habilitation application to the chair of the habilitation committee (dean).

You can find a sample application here.

Please enclose the following documents:

CV / résumé
Copy of your PhD certificate
5 copies of your habilitation thesis
List of publications
List of courses taught
Plagiarism Declaration according to the postdoctoral teaching qualification regulations
Three proposals for your scientific presentation according to §5 of the postdoctoral teaching qualification regulations.

The Postdoctoral Studies Committee officially opens the habilitation procedure and appoints the referees. At least two professors will be appointed as referees (at least one of the referees must be from another university). The referees submit the reports within two months and recommend whether the thesis should be accepted or whether the procedure should be interrupted temporarily.

The reports and your thesis, CV and publication list will be submitted to the Postdoctoral Studies Committee for review (2 to 8 weeks). During this period, the Postdoctoal Studies Committee is allowed to issue a statement.

The Committe will reach a decision regarding pass or fail of your habilitation thesis.

Oral habilitation examination

The Committee will select one of the three topics you have proposed for the scientific presentation. The Chair will inform you regarding the topic and the date of the presentation, allowing a preparation time of at least three weeks.

Immediately following the presentation and discussion the Committee will reach a decision regarding the pass or fail of the oral examination.

Handreichung zum Habilitationsvortrag

Teaching and educational skills

You are then required to hold a leclture which demonstrates your teaching and educational skills (§12).

The Chair will select a lecture topic (in agreement with you) and and inform the Committee or the Committee may decide to accept lectures which you have already held.

Result of the habilitation

The Committee will determine the field of study to which the habilitation will apply. The Chair will inform you about the results and the Rector about the habilitation.

Teaching qualification

The teaching qualification will be rewarded by certificate according to §20 paragraph 4.