Außerplanmäßige Professuren

1) Title management

First of all, the award of an extraordinary professorship "only" confers a title. In Lower Saxony, this is regulated in Articel 35a NHG. According to this, the person who is awarded the title "Associate Professor" is entitled to use this title. The title is thus already "conclusively regulated", i.e. the title holder is required to state the full title in the address header and on all comparable occasions, i.e. "Apl. Prof. Dr. ..." or "Prof. (apl.) Dr. ...". This regulation is obviously narrow - especially in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin this is regulated differently, also for honorary professors - but unambiguous. Consequently, a spelling without the abbreviation "apl. is not permissible, even if the prerequisites for a professorship are fulfilled and, if applicable, the corresponding duties are performed. In this context, it is important to note that this title can only be used as long as teaching duties are performed. If teaching activities are no longer performed, the entitlement to use the title no longer applies.

2) Corporate law status of the apl. prof.

The title "non-scheduled professor" does not change the status/service-law position of the title holder and thus the active and passive right to vote within the academic self-administration, i.e. academic staff or academic councillors who have been awarded the title remain in the academic middle building. Pursuant to Art. 16, para. 2, sent. 5 NHG, private lecturers pursuant to Articel 9a NHG (i.e. habilitated members of the mid-level faculty) and non-scheduled professors may be entrusted with the independent representation of their subject. This entrustment in turn has a consequence in terms of membership/corporation law: one thus becomes a member of the group of university teachers (professors) and is entitled to vote and be elected in this group. In addition, one is no longer bound by instructions in research and teaching pursuant to Art. 31, para. 1 of the Higher Education Act (NHG), but is entitled to independent research and teaching. The entrustment is further regulated in § 22 of the Habilitation Regulations of our university. It should be noted that entrustment does not take place automatically (similarly, there is no automatic award of an associate professorship to private lecturers), but only when defined prerequisites are met.

3) Teaching duties and research semester

The Ordinance on Teaching Obligations (LVVO) of 2 August 2007 is based on the concept of personnel under service/status law ("full-time academic personnel at universities"). In concrete terms, this means that the provisions of Art. 4, para. 2, No. 2 of the LVVO with the teaching obligation of 10 teaching hours continue to apply to academic staff entrusted with the independent representation of a subject. Reductions in the teaching load can thus not be achieved by acquiring a title and also not by entrustment, but only by assuming special functions in self-administration in accordance with the LVVO, e.g. programme management and deanery functions. In individual cases, research semesters may also be granted to a person entrusted with the independent representation of a subject pursuant to Art. 16, para. 2, sent. 5 NHG: According to a decision by the OVG Lüneburg in 1987, it is permissible to grant a sabbatical leave of absence even to purely member professors. In this context, it is important to point out that neither the habilitation nor the non-scheduled professorship entitles the holder to a research semester; only the entrustment with the independent representation of a subject leads to the assignment to the group of professors under membership law with the entitlement to independent research and the fundamental possibility of being granted a research semester in individual cases.