staff-categories

New Staff Categories?

A Review of Regulations in Individual German Federal States

Martin Hellfeier
New categories of university staff and related concepts for permanent positions are currently under discussion. Reforms are expected. What is the current legal situation?
 

The topic has received particular attention since the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) published its position paper “Personnel structures in the German academic system” in July 2025, advocating a fundamental reorganisation of academic personnel structures. Prior to that, the Universities Member Group of the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, HRK), together with the Junge Akademie, had published guidelines in June 2024. These aim to establish permanent academic career paths at universities alongside the professorship and propose three job profiles: Lecturer, with a focus on teaching; Researcher, with a focus on research; and Academic Manager, with a focus on academic and infrastructure management as well as transfer.

The German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband, DHV) welcomed the recommendations of the German Science and Humanities Council and emphasised the need for a clearer separation between qualification and permanent duties, as well as early, quality-led decisions in the postdoctoral phase. Staff categories outside the professorship are attractive if they differ from professorships while at the same time offering the holders of such positions the greatest possible autonomy, sufficient development opportunities and attractive remuneration. Since needs vary depending on discipline and location, the recommendations of the German Science and Humanities Council can serve as an important basis for more detailed discussion.
 

Current regulations in the federal states

All German federal states have academic staff (wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter) who, depending on their duties, may also be employed on a permanent basis. However, the current discussion on new staff categories refers in particular to positions involving autonomous substantive responsibilities, which are usually made permanent and/or assigned to a higher salary group following a quality-assured qualification and development phase. The tenure-track principle of the Junior Professorship would thus, in principle and functionally, be transferred to positions alongside the professorship.

The legal framework in this regard is shaped by the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 25 June 2025, which emphasises the precedence of federal academic fixed-term employment law over divergent state-level regulations in higher education law. At present, this limits the scope available to the federal states for promises of permanent employment in the form of tenure-track models arising from fixed-term employment contracts for academic staff in qualification phases.

An overview of the few federal states that provide, or intend to provide, regulations for special staff categories reveals the following:

Berlin provides a new staff category Lecturer under the Third Act for the Further Development of Berlin Higher Education Law. The Act was adopted by the Berlin House of Representatives on 15 January 2026. It expressly takes into account the current case law on the Berlin Higher Education Act from 2025. The new category is designed for permanent duties in research and teaching. It links development steps with evaluations and aims to provide a perspective of permanent employment after a defined probationary period. A distinction is envisaged between Researchers, with a focus on research, and Lecturers, with a focus on teaching.

Higher education law in Brandenburg recognises Academic Junior Lecturers (Akademische Juniordozentinnen und Juniordozenten). They are initially employed on a fixed-term basis as employees and then, depending on the terms of the job advertisement, as Academic Lecturers (Akademische Dozentinnen und Dozenten) on either a fixed-term or permanent basis, also as employees. In addition, Academic Managers (Wissenschaftsmanagerinnen und Wissenschaftsmanager) have been introduced, who should generally be employed on a permanent basis.

Bremen provides Lecturers (Lektorinnen und Lektoren). They are employed either as employees or as civil servants, on a permanent or fixed-term basis. Entry is on a fixed-term basis as a Lecturer or Researcher. The senior levels (Senior Lecturer or Senior Researcher) follow after an evaluation and lead to a permanent employment or civil service status.

In Hesse, academic staff may obtain permanent employment under the special designation University Lecturer (Hochschullektorin or Hochschullektor) after a maximum of three years of employment as either an employee or a civil servant. Following successful probation, University Lecturers are assigned duties in research and teaching to be performed independently.

In Saxony, employment as a Lecturer (Lektorin or Lektor) is generally permanent from the outset, with the possibility of promotion to Senior Lecturer (Seniorlektorin or Seniorlektor). The model is based on autonomous activity predominantly related to teaching or research and links upgrading to the senior level with quality-assured assessment procedures. Saxony also has Academic Managers (Wissenschaftsmanagerinnen und Wissenschaftsmanager), who are responsible for management tasks in administration and transfer.

An interesting case is Baden-Württemberg, where the category of Lecturer (Dozentinnen und Dozenten) in the State Higher Education Act, which had been introduced in 2007, was abolished again in 2024. The explanatory memorandum to the Act states that the positions were considered unattractive by both universities and early career researchers and was therefore rarely sought. Not least because of narrow salary margins, the staff category had not proved successful in practice.
 

Outlook for 2026

The federal states will have to clarify their existing regulations or create new ones. At present, two lines remain decisive. First, there are the guide rails set by the constitutional court’s case law of 2025, which sharpens the allocation of legislative competences and the limits of state-level requirements in the law on fixed-term and permanent employment. Second, there are developments at federal level, namely the amendment of the Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz), which, however, is still pending at present.