Quality Assurance in Appointment Processes

Mandatory and structured approval and selection processes which include both central and decentral institutions and their expertise guarantee professionalism, transparency and efficiency.

Appointment processes are governed by appointment regulations in line with the statutory regulations and LUH’s own regulations. They are legally binding. The appointments management team also provides a wide range of information and literature, such as handouts, guidelines and templates, to help the faculties carry out appointment processes properly.

Competitive processes and the quality of job candidates are key to selecting the best people. Internationally published calls for applications, active recruitment and a personal approach to women, young academics and researchers abroad in particular are used to recruit a broad range of applicants in terms of profile and potential. Recruitment guidelines, available from the university, help faculties find candidates.

The online application portal for professorships provides high-quality data for appointment commissions' work, ensures the privacy of applicants’ data and enables faster and more efficient process management.

The exclusion of personal conflicts of interest is a prerequisite for the objective and fair assessment of candidates in appointment processes, meaning that participation in appointment and evaluation procedures is subject to the exclusion of conflicts of interest. The necessary impartiality for an unbiased assessment is determined for each committee member at the beginning of their participation in the selection process and any lack of impartiality is documented. The criteria are closely based on the DFG guidelines (German Research Foundation). The review and handling of personal conflicts of interest is regulated in the handout approved by the Presidential Board and the University Senate, which is binding.

The involvement of external experts in selection processes ensures that applicants are assessed independently. The decision-making process and transparency are also improved through the resulting integration of various perspectives. In this way, commissions can be expanded to include specialist knowledge that is not covered by LUH professors. External expertise is obtained by including professors as members of appointment commissions, or via written evaluations from external experts. For reasons of transparency, the selection of external experts must be justified and assurances must be provided that no conflicts of interest exist.

Candidates can find information about the current status of the process from anywhere and at any time. To ensure that applicants are treated fairly and respectfully in appointment processes, they are also informed regularly and quickly in writing about the status of the process.

Equal opportunities, gender and diversity are reflected in all phases of the appointment process. In other words, from the moment an appointment proposal is approved, all processes and decisions are verified to ensure that equal opportunities, gender and diversity aspects have been considered. The wording of job ads, decisions not to advertise jobs, the makeup of appointment commissions, the selection of experts, and appointment proposals all require the consent of the equal opportunities officers and university bodies. To ensure that equal opportunities are provided, equal opportunities officers take part in all commission meetings in an advisory capacity. This supports the appointment policy goal of increasing the number of female professors at LUH. The central equal oppurtunity officer has the right to appeal a faculty's appointment proposal.

To raise awareness  of unconcious biases concerning gender and diversity, the members of the appointment commissions undergo a training course.

Appointment processes at LUH are subject to quality assurance at three levels by internal and external university bodies (the Presidential Board, the Senate and the Foundation Council). These bodies review the respective appointment proposal to ensure that it reflects the university’s development planning strategy, that it complies with the formalities and legal requirements of the process, and the quality of candidates shortlisted.