Habilitation

Habilitation regulations of the University of Mannheim

The following habilitation achievements are required to obtain the venia legendi:

1. Submission of a habilitation thesis or equivalent academic publications in accordance with § 7 HabilO,
2. Proof of pedagogical and didactic aptitude in accordance with § 8 HabilO
3. Academic presentation followed by a colloquium before the habilitation committee in accordance with § 9 HabilO

You can apply to the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences to initiate the habilitation procedure in the subject or sub-field for which the habilitation is sought at the earliest one year before submitting the habilitation application.

In addition, one of the following documents must be submitted as proof of pedagogical and didactic aptitude in accordance with § 8 HabilO:

1. meaningful documents on successful evaluations of your own courses
   or
2. course-related events held as a university member at the University of Mannheim in at least two semesters
   or
3. proof of successfully completed further training in higher education didactics, e.g. Baden-Württemberg certificate for higher education didactics (HDZ certificate)
   or
4. program-related course according to the notification according to § 4 para. 1 and 2 HabilO. A course related to the degree program is any course in the curriculum of the relevant subject or sub-discipline. The course should comprise two course hours over one semester. The habilitation committee forms a commission of two members, which examines the applicant's ability to teach academically and their pedagogical and didactic aptitude and submits a written report to the habilitation committee. On the basis of this report, the Habilitation Committee decides on the candidate's pedagogical and didactic aptitude. If the habilitation committee decides that proof of pedagogical and didactic aptitude has not been provided, the dean will inform the applicant of this in writing. In this case, the habilitation procedure is terminated. 

The habilitation application can be submitted to the Dean at the earliest one year after notification.

The requirements for submitting the habilitation application are

1. The applicant must hold a doctoral degree from a German academic university or an equivalent academic degree from a foreign academic university
2. At least two years of academic activity must have elapsed between the date of the oral doctoral examination and the submission of the habilitation application
3. The applicant must have produced and provide evidence of academic publications

Section 5 HabilO lists all the documents that must be enclosed with the habilitation application.

The written habilitation thesis can be in the form of a monograph or cumulatively on the basis of previously published journal articles. 

Monograph:
The habilitation thesis must be an independent academic achievement from the subject or sub-discipline for which the habilitation is sought. The work must be suitable for promoting scientific knowledge and correspond to scientific achievements that are expected at the end of a successful junior professorship in the faculty concerned. The habilitation committee may also recognize a previously published work as a habilitation thesis. This does not apply to a dissertation.

Publication-based and/or cumulative habilitation work:
If a habilitation is applied for without submitting a habilitation thesis (publication-based habilitation thesis), the academic publications must form a unit which, in their entirety, meet the requirements for a habilitation thesis. Their results must be presented in summary form and the applicant must justify the unit. The assessment of the scientific articles is the responsibility of the rapporteur of the habilitation thesis. It cannot be replaced by the mere reproduction of the results of a review procedure. If a specialist article has not yet been submitted for publication, it is the responsibility of the rapporteurs to certify its publication potential. In the case of co-authorship, the reviewers' assessment of the article focuses solely on the quality of their own contribution and not on the entire article.

If joint work is submitted, the applicant must indicate for each submitted paper which parts were contributed by him or her. This must be confirmed in writing by a declaration from the co-authors. Co-authors of papers submitted as written habilitation work should not be rapporteurs.

Requirements for the presentation topic see step 3 below. 

Based on the recommendation of the rapporteurs, the habilitation committee decides on the acceptance of the written habilitation thesis.

If the written habilitation thesis is accepted, the habilitation committee determines the topic of the habilitation lecture as well as the time and place of the lecture and the colloquium.

The habilitation committee selects one of three topics to be proposed by the candidate for the academic presentation. The topics must be taken from the subject or subject area for which the teaching qualification is sought, but must differ from the topic of the written habilitation thesis. If these requirements are not met, the habilitation committee may request that new proposals be submitted.

Specification:
The academic presentation should deal with an essential problem of the subject or subject area for which the habilitation candidate is seeking the habilitation, based on the current state of research, in such a way that members of the other subjects of the faculty can also form an opinion and the venia legendi can be granted for the subject or subject area applied for.