Women are excellently educated in Germany. They are at least as successful as men when it comes to educational qualifications up to and including the doctorate: women are more likely to complete A-levels, they study more frequently and they write almost half of all doctorates. At other levels, however, i.e. habilitations, professorships and especially in management positions, the proportion of women does not correspond to the proportion of well-qualified women.
The University of Bayreuth has been promoting women in science for years and has therefore once again submitted an application to the nationwide "Female Professors Programme 2030". With particular success! In addition to the opportunity to submit applications for up to three start-up grants for the initial appointment of women to permanent W3 professorships, the University of Bayreuth has received special recognition. As one of 22 universities nationwide, its equal opportunities concept received the highest rating from the review panel. For this achievement, it has been awarded the title of "University with Strong Gender Equality" for the first time. The University of Bayreuth has thus been given the opportunity to fund an additional position for a female early career researcher, which should lead to a permanent professorship - an innovation in the Female Professors Programme 2030.
"It increases our competitiveness if we fully utilise our potential in society and have more women researching and teaching at our university! I am very pleased about the success of our application. Congratulations to the Women's Representatives and the team at the Equal Opportunities Service Centre!" says University President Prof. Dr Stefan Leible.
"We will use the funding provided to initiate gender equality measures and further expand the coaching and mentoring programme at the University of Bayreuth," reveals Miriam Bauch, the project manager from the concept. "The measures will promote female academics at all qualification levels at the University of Bayreuth, improve our structures and contribute to a gender-equitable university culture," adds Professor Dr Heike Feldhaar, University Women's Representative.
The Joint Science Conference (GWK) adopted the Female Professors Programme 2030 in November 2022. The Women Professors Programme was first launched in 2008. The aim of the funding programme, which builds on the successful previous three programme phases and has been strengthened in terms of content, is to dynamically increase the number of female professors towards parity, to promote (junior) female scientists and artists on the path to a lifetime professorship and to retain them in academia, and to anchor gender equality at universities even more firmly in structural terms. This will sustainably strengthen the necessary structural and cultural change towards more gender equality at universities.
