Akademischer Rat auf Zeit

Many chairs offer postdoctoral researchers positions as ‘Akademischer Rat/Akademische Rätin auf Zeit’ or ‘Akademischer Oberrat/Akademische Oberrätin auf Zeit’. These are fixed-term public service contracts which are initially restricted to three years. A doctoral degree or the Second State Examination (Zweite Staatsprüfung) must be obtained to qualify for an appointment as Akademischer Rat. The only exceptions to this are for engineering subjects and Catholic and Protestant theology. For more information, see FAU’s human resources handbook (German).

As an ‘Akademischer Rat’ you should be aware of certain conditions.

The salary is generally higher than for research associate positions. However, these positions require employees to have private health insurance. Once you have switched from statutory to private health insurance, it can be difficult to switch back, which may be necessary if you are later employed under different conditions. It is also important to note that after the end of a fixed-term contract as Akademischer Rat you are not entitled to Arbeitslosengeld II unemployment benefit. If you did not have a new job after the fixed-term contract ended, you would be dependent on this unemployment benefit.

Habilitation regulations

FAU has one set of habilitation regulations (German) for all faculties which provide information on all steps that are relevant for your habilitation. Certain conditions vary between faculties and schools. We therefore recommend that you get in touch with the contact person at your faculty or school.

Contacts at the faculties for habilitations