PLan_CV: Rethinking professorial careers at universities of applied sciences

TH Köln has launched the project “Plan_CV”. Its goal: Finding excellent candidates for professorial careers at universities of applied sciences. The project’s budget of 13.15 million Euros is funded through the Federal Ministry of Education and Research program “FH-Personal” (staff for universities of applied sciences).

By 2030, TH Köln will need to fill at least 136 professorial positions, ideally with outstanding candidates. This is where the project PLan_CV comes in. Its goals: increasing the attractiveness of professorial positions at universities of applied sciences, strengthening dual qualifications (with academic and vocational components), and achieving greater permeability between the academic world and the business sector.

At a glance

Kategorie	Beschreibung
Project	Rethinking professorial careers at universities of applied sciences – Collaboration and networking (Professur-Laufbahn an Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften neu denken: Collaboration und Vernetzung, PLan_CV)
Funding body	Federal Ministry of Education and Research – Program to attract and qualify professoral staff for universities of applied sciences (BMBF – Programm zur Förderung der Gewinnung und Qualifizierung professoralen Personals an Fachhochschulen, "FH-Personal")
Budget	€ 13.15 million
Funding period	April 2021 - March 2027

The project focuses on holistic academic staff development and aims to benefit everyone involved – staff, university and its partners. TH Köln is looking to explore new avenues of cooperation and to demonstrate that permeability between academic and business sectors is possible. Besides recruiting new employees for TH Köln, the goal is also to improve the collaboration between partners from academia, economy and civil society. Above all, TH Köln seeks to promote equal opportunities, diversity and reconciliation of family and work life.

To this end, TH Köln has developed customized measures that will be implemented and expanded within the university and in cooperation with its partners. These measures aim at making a professorship at a university of applied sciences more attractive and at simplifying the recruitment process. All activities are based on a comprehensive analysis of strengths and weaknesses, which was carried out in the conceptual phase and comprised different statistics and interviews with relevant target groups.

Implementation in five steps

Improving recruitment

With recruitment events, career counseling and brochures, TH Köln seeks to spread the word among potential candidates for professorships at universities of applied sciences. In addition to a program for international visiting scientists there will also be a mentoring program connecting interested students with professors at TH Köln. Students will receive support in their teaching and research activities and have the opportunity to get familiar with the tasks of professors at universities of applied sciences.

Project manager: Dr. Klara Groß-Elixmann

Tandem program

In order to meet all applicants where they are at in their careers, TH Köln offers tandem employments: one candidate works in equal parts at the university and in a cooperating business.

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Denis Anders

Focus professorships

Focus professorships provide opportunities to develop or expand a field of research that will sustainable shape TH Köln’s profile. Further Information

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Sigrid Leitner

Qualifications

In addition to existing structures, doctoral candidates and postdocs receive training in academically relevant skills, participate in trainee programs, compile digital career portfolios and benefit from supervision, coaching through a career cluster and retreats.

Project manager: Dr. Birgit Szczyrba

Cooperation platform

The platform PERMEA promotes permeability between the academic world and the business sector. Partners from civil society support young scientists to build their career path.

Acting project managers: Prof. Dr. Stefan Herzig & Joelle Coutinho