FAUnext career program

FAUnext

FAU considers the education and training of staff with high potential as one of its greatest obligations and most important opportunities.

Are achieving professional independence, strengthening academic profiles and gaining additional skills, which may also be of relevance for pursuing a career outside the university, among your top priorities?

Then why not take part in a qualification program that is particularly attractive among universities throughout Germany, and offers you a wide range of training opportunities for all important topics in your current career phase?

The advantages at a glance:

Maximum flexibility when planning which topics you would like to cover and fitting in with your time constraints
Individual supervision and selection of the training best suited to your needs
All training conducted by excellent innovative external trainers and internal FAU experts.
Includes a personal status review and comprehensive career coaching with certified coaches (also for careers outside the university)
No time-consuming searches for courses with external providers
No overlaps in terms of topics
Extensive networking within FAU due to different participants in various modules
More cost-effective than individual courses offered by external providers
You do not need to apply if you belong to the target group.
Small course groups where trainers can address your individual needs.

All modules are generally taught in English. However, if none of the participants speak English, the module will be taught in German.

Target group and application process

You can take part in the FAUnext program if you are one of the following:

W1 professor
FAU head of junior research group (FAUngl)
Qualified postdoctoral researchers
Participants in the Emerging Talents Initiative (FAUeti)
Principal investigators, group leaders and project coordinators of Transregios, Collaborative Research Centers and Research Training Groups (TRRs, SFBs and GRKs) at FAU
Project coordinators of the IZKF first-time applicant program

You don’t need to apply to take part in the FAUnext program. If you are in one of the target groups, you will automatically receive an invitation and can take part at any time.

The program

You can participate in the program at any time after receiving an invitation. Your training begins with a voluntary individual status review. This comprises a self-reflection form, followed by a feedback meeting with our qualified coach. The results of the status review will help you to select modules for your personal development from the range of modules we offer. You can then register for the modules (registration is binding).

Modules and program support

FAUnext provides support to participants in all aspects of the PERO fields of action at FAU (People, Education, Research, Outreach). We offer up to two modules for each of these fields of action. Three extra modules are offered for “Professorship as a career goal”, “Negotiation skills” and “Career paths outside university”.

If you participate in the program, you are entitled to the following benefits, which you can access within two years:

Participation in three modules of your choice One module consists of 16 work units lasting 60 minutes.
Participation in networking events and the 45 minute talks
Self-assessment questionnaire
Feedback interview on self-assessment questionnaire with qualified career coach to determine which modules are most suitable for you.
Career coaching over 4-5 sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours each within your two years of participation, delivered by our certified coach. You can arrange the dates individually with your coach.

In addition, the program is designed so that you can also take advantage of all the benefits and complete at least three modules within one year.

After completion of the program, you receive a certificate for the entire duration of your participation.

List of module topics:

People

Module P1: Developing your own style of management – Cultivating self-awareness
Module P2: Developing your own style of management – Managing yourself and others

More information on People modules

Education

Module E1: Advanced Higher Education – Focus on your own teaching
Module E2: Advanced Higher Education – Focus on digital education

More information on Education modules

Research

Module R1: Developing competitive third-party projects
Module R2: Developing successful networks

More information on Research modules

Career coaching

The subject matter covered in our modules is just as relevant to careers pursued outside university, and is not tailored exclusively to becoming a professor. Career paths at university or elsewhere are individual, tailor-made solutions. It is not a case of ‘one size fits all’, and the best way to explore your various options is with individual coaching sessions. In our career coaching, we take a close look at your specific skills, explore what motivates you and, if you like, we can work together to draw up different options both within the university and elsewhere. Read more on our career coaching website

Networking

Networking events

We would like to create a space for colleagues to exchange ideas and network, which is why we organize networking events at least twice a year for our program participants. We will inform you in advance via e-mail about the dates, location, time and type of event.

FAUnext4all: Our 45 minute talks

Since 2023-2024, we have been offering our FAUnext4all Talks, in which FAU “role models” (established researchers, alumni of the FAUnext program, etc.) hold short presentations on set topics, report about their own experiences and answer questions from participants. The 45 minute talks take place online and during the lunch break from 1 pm to 1.45 pm. You will receive a Zoom link via e-mail beforehand.

Further information about upcoming talks is available on the event website.

FAUnext group in the FAU Community

Participants and alumni of the FAUnext career program have the opportunity to join the FAUnext Community in the FAU Community Portal. Further information on the FAU Community is available here: https://www.fau.de/alumni/fau-community-portal/

Active networking is an important aspect of our program that we hope to expand further in future. By using the FAU Community Portal, we would like to bring together current and former members of our program and also those who have left FAU during the last few years. The members of our FAUnext Community group can contact each other directly and thus create a useful and important support network for today and tomorrow.

In addition, we also use the various channels of the FAU Community Portal for group-specific posts, events and notifications, thereby enabling a direct flow of information between former and current members.

Further information about setting up a new FAU Community profile is available here.

You can find our group here.