Please make sure to submit the required documents digitally with your application (for security reasons, possible formats: pdf, jpg). Only the documents you provide us with can be evaluated:

• an informative cover letter
• a curriculum vitae
• the completed application form
• proof of your degree (certificate and diploma); if you have a foreign degree, it is helpful for the appointment committees if you provide a certificate that this degree is recognized in North Rhine-Westphalia. Information on recognition can be found on the website of the Ministry of Schools and Education in North Rhine-Westphalia.
• proof of your doctorate (certificate and diploma); if you completed your doctorate abroad, it is helpful if you include a note on the recognition of your doctorate in Germany with your application
• Further evidence required in the call for applications
• Proof of your professional activities (e.g. in the form of job references)
• a list of publications
• an exposé of previous and planned research activities and cooperation ideas within the university
• a teaching profile

Have you noticed after submitting your application that you have forgotten to upload documents to the application portal? You are welcome to send additional documents by email, stating your application number (you will receive this with the automatic confirmation of receipt), to the Appointment Management Office:

berufungsmanagement(at)hs-niederrhein.de

. The documents will then be uploaded to the system.

Professional experience is counted after the first university degree (e.g. Bachelor's degree) that is related to the professorship being advertised.
Internships or periods of training are not counted as professional experience.

You can provide proof of your professional experience by submitting your CV and the completed application form. You can provide evidence of your work experience in the form of job references, for example.

If you have not worked full-time for family reasons (e.g. parental leave, care leave), you will not suffer any disadvantages as a result. If you have worked at least 50% of the time, this period can be taken into account when proving your professional experience (irrespective of the proof of professional experience outside the university).
Example: You have worked Part-time (at least 50% of the job) for three years after the birth of your child. Accordingly, you will need proof of a further two years in order to meet the 5-year work experience requirement.

Professional experience within and outside the university

For example, after graduating from university, you are employed in an academic position at a university (job share of at least 50%). This professional activity is counted as activity within a university.

If you have worked for a company or an affiliated institute of a university, this will be counted as professional experience outside the university. However, the affiliated institute must be legally independent.

Professional periods at Helmholtz, Leibniz, Fraunhofer and Max Planck Institutes are recognized.

Note: A look at the organization chart or the imprint of the institute's website can help to determine the legal status of an institute.

Self-employment

If you are or were self-employed, these periods can of course also be taken into account in your professional experience.

Please send us suitable documents that allow us to gain an insight into the extent of your self-employment, e.g.

• List of references with details of companies and projects

• Confirmation from a tax office certifying the scope of your self-employed activity compared to an employed activity.
  

Proof of the third-party funding you have acquired is relevant for assessing your research competence. Of course, we are aware that, from a funding perspective, it makes more sense to state a different surname as the applicant in the applications (e.g. the supervising professor or the head of the institute). Then explain what part you played in the application and implementation of the projects.

The doctorate and its quality serve as proof of your ability to carry out academic work.

If a doctoral grade is specified in the call for applications (e.g. magna cum laude), you must provide evidence with your application documents that your doctorate was graded at least "magna cum laude", for example. If you are unable to do this because you have only completed your doctorate with "cum laude", you will be excluded from the procedure as you do not fulfill this KO criterion.

If no doctoral grade is specified as a requirement in the call for applications, your doctoral grade fulfills the aspect of quality if you have completed your doctorate with at least "laude". A doctoral grade of "rite" leads to exclusion from the procedure.

If you have completed a doctorate without a grade, it will help the committee if you can submit an assessment / evaluation of the quality of your doctorate by the issuing university, for example.

In the research exposé, you present your previous work and experience in the field of research. Based on the research exposé, we are able to assess whether and which externally-funded projects you have already submitted to which project management organization.

At the same time, you provide an outlook on future topics of your research activities, which you may also want to tackle with colleagues at The Hochschule Niederrhein.

Note: Take a look atthe research landscape at The Hochschule Niederrhein. With over 240 professorships in ten faculties, there may well be thematic overlaps.

In the teaching profile you describe

• the specializations you wish to focus on in teaching education and how these fit in with the faculty's profile,
• your academic career with regard to your previous teaching experience (e.g. from the time of your doctorate; type and scope of courses) or experience in imparting knowledge and skills,
• why you have chosen a position with a high teaching component,
• your understanding of teaching and which didactic goals will guide your future teaching education.

Note: A look at the module manual of the degree program or the faculty's module manuals can help here.

The selection process for filling a professorship is very complex. In the following, we briefly outline the most important points of the procedure.

Who is involved?

The selection procedure is primarily accompanied by a specially appointed appointment committee.

The appointment committee usually consists of

• five lecturers (professors from the faculty for which the appointment is being made, plus one professor from another faculty or another university),
• one academic employee,
• one employee from technology and administration (in an advisory capacity, without voting rights)
• two members from the group of students.
  

All members are bound to secrecy and are aware of the confidential treatment of all documents in the procedure.

The committee is assisted by the appointment officers, who support the committee in applying the appointment regulations.

The Head of Department, the Equal Opportunities Officer and, if applicable, the Representative for Severely Disabled Persons may attend the meetings of the Appointments Committee in an advisory capacity.

Who decides on the appointment?

The Hochschule Niederrhein President decides on the granting of an appointment.

The decision is based on the report of the appointment committee, the presentation of the appointment officer, the statement of the Equal Opportunities Officer and a description of the appointment management procedure.

Duration of the procedure

An appointment procedure usually takes between eight and twelve months.
This is partly due to the involvement of the various boards and committees and external experts, which require a certain amount of preparation and processing time. We endeavor to carry out the procedure as quickly as possible in compliance with the applicable rules.

If you have any questions about the status of the appointment procedure, you can always contact the chair of the appointment committee.

Information on the status of the procedure

Once your application has been received, you will receive confirmation of receipt from the appointment management team.

As a rule, you can assume that you will receive an invitation to a personal interview within 8-12 weeks of the closing date if your application has been assessed as suitable.

However, you will only receive a rejection once the procedure has been completed.

If you have any questions about the status of the appointment procedure, you can always contact the chair of the appointment committee.

However, you will only receive a rejection once the procedure has been completed.

If you have any questions about the status of the appointment procedure, you can always contact the chair of the appointment committee.

On what basis does an appointment procedure take place?

An appointment procedure is carried out on the basis of the appointment regulations of The Hochschule Niederrhein and is supervised by the appointment officers.

Stages of the selection procedure

An appointment procedure usually involves various stages at which your suitability for the professorship is assessed:

• Application documents
• Structured interview with predetermined questions that are asked equally of each applicant (ensures objectivity, comparability and equal treatment of all applicants)
• specialist presentation, in which you give a presentation on a predetermined topic that is the same for all applicants or a topic of your choice
• Technical interview with predetermined questions that are asked equally of all applicants
• Trial course, in which you give a course to students on a topic previously determined by the appointment committee for all applicantstwo external reviews based on the documents you have submitted (application documents, presentations for the trial course and specialist lecture, etc.)

We assure you of the absolute confidentiality of your application documents.

For this reason, only those persons who are involved in the procedure on the university side (including the appointment management, appointment committee, equal opportunities officer, representative for severely disabled persons if required, presidium, faculty council, external reviewers if necessary) may view the documents.

Then simply get in touch with us!

Appointment management team:
berufungsmanagement(at)hs-niederrhein.de

Central Equal Opportunities Officer:
gleichstellung(at)hs-niederrhein.de