Abstract:
Recruiting excellent academic staff is a key challenge for universities and research institutions. This study explores how government funding programs initiated by federal and state authorities in Germany directly and indirectly support the recruitment of academic talents. Based on a content analysis of 83 funding programs, we find that only a small proportion of these programs explicitly aim to create new positions. The majority of funding measures (76%) focus on indirect approaches, such as improving institutional conditions, expanding networks, or promoting international collaborations. Exemplary programs like the Tenure-Track Program represent direct support, while initiatives such as „KI-Nachwuchs@FH“ are intended to establish attractive research environments, thereby indirectly facilitating the recruitment of skilled professionals.
Despite the broad thematic scope of the selected funding programs, key challenges faced by universities, such as those related to the appointment of professors, remain unaddressed. There is a lack of programs that foster location- and university-specific governance structures enabling universities to experiment with new ways of recruiting. For university management, there are valuable indications for the strategic orientation of personnel recruitment. For example, the results point to specific areas of funding such as the expansion of international networks and collaborations, which can indirectly contribute to the recruitment of experts.
Über die Autoren:
- Kalle Hauss,
Dr., Institut für Innovationen und Technik Berlin - Alexander Raev,
Dr., Institut für Innovationen und Technik Berlin
