A recruitment and career system that attracts, retains, and rewards the most talented scientists is required in order for German universities to be internationally competitive. Although the current system offers academic positions for life, promotion can often be gained only by changing universities. A more competitive program that promotes the best performers within the system is thus required.

In his Editorial in Angewandte Chemie, Wolfgang A. Herrmann, President of the Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany, explains how his institution is preparing to attract the best talent and meet the needs of international best practice with the “TUM Faculty Tenure Track” program.

In the next seven years, the TUM will create 100 new tenure-track assistant professorships with the aim of attracting the best researchers, reducing the average age of the faculty, and making the TUM even more competitive on an international level. After six years, a professor’s performance will be evaluated with the possibility of a permanent position afterwards.

If this program is adopted throughout Germany then its universities will be serious competitors on the international stage.

• Tenure Track: The Royal Road to Professorship?
  Wolfgang A. Herrmann,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52(18).
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201301692