The importance of sociologists and sociology in the recruitment of professors by the GeBindE project

• In Event: 40264 - Advancing Sociological Practice through Computational Research and Community Engagement

Abstract

To promote the recruitment of university professors in the technical and economic fields, the FH-Personnel program (1) in Germany provides state funding of around 431.5 million euros to 98 universities of applied science (UAS). (2) At the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Science in southern Germany, the program is being funded with around 4.15 million US dollars (about 4 million euros). (3) Filling professorial positions has been difficult in recent years and this problem is likely to continue in the future, as the post-war baby boomers retire and will continue to do so in the near future. What is striking and innovative about how our program, called GeBindE (4), is working at Nürtingen-Geislingen University is the presence of sociologists on the team. Two of the five members have a doctorate in sociology, and there is another sociologist at the Institute Center for Applied Research who is a research officer. Two other members come from psychology and cultural studies. Over the course of successfully working together, the team has found that the principles and skills that are particular to sociology have proven useful. These skills include preparing evaluations, surveys, and questionnaires; performing the research and writing necessary for producing publications; working with statistics effectively; evaluating equality (e.g., gender ratios); and having the ability to reflect on and find solutions for improving recruitment. In my talk, I will describe and discuss the role that sociology has played in contributing to successful outcomes achieved by the GeBindE.


Notes
(1) FH is the short form for Fachhochschule in German or University of Applied Science (UAS) in English.
(2) https://www.bmbf.de/DE/Forschung/Wissenschaftssystem/WissenschaftlicheKarriere/FhPersonal/fhpersonal_node.html and https://www.ptj.de/foerdermoeglichkeiten/fh-personal
(3) https://www.hfwu.de/
I am involved in this project: https://www.hfwu.de/ralf-jeremias/
Project website: https://www.hfwu.de/en/forschung-und-transfer/gebinde/
Advertising flyer:
https://www.hfwu.de/fileadmin/user_upload/GeBindE/how_to_prof/Flyer_Professur_27_01_english.pdf
(4) GeBindE stands for Gewinnung, Bindung und Entwicklung professoralen Personals (Recruitment, Retention and Development of Professorial Staff).

Author

• Ralf Jeremias, Nürtingen-Geislingen Univ of Applied Science