An assistant professorship is considered to be a position for training purposes and for establishing an academic profile. Assistant professors also take part in research and teaching but are elected, as a rule, for a maximum of six years (three plus a further three years). Before the completion of the first three years, an intermediate evaluation of the professor’s academic achievements takes place at the school, based on the criteria of the job profile specific to that school. An extension of the length of employment, of two years at the most, may be approved by the President on the basis of demonstrated family or social commitments. After a successful Habilitation (acquiring a recognised postdoctoral qualification), it is possible for assistant professors to supervise Ph.D. students.
Their teaching load comprises four contact hours per week per semester with a 100 per cent contract or roughly 72 hours per academic year, including complete responsibility for the examinations (four sessions of 45 minutes each per week during 24 weeks of the academic year; 1 semester = 14 weeks, including two weeks’ semester break)
Holders of an assistant professorship have at their disposal a guaranteed individual research time of two days per week, for research that is relevant to their career; and this research time is recognized as valid regardless of the percentage of their employment contract.
Requirements
Selection criteria for an assistant professorship include an excellent PhD thesis. Our assistant professors usually start their positions at HSG between six and eight years after the doctorate (with an extension of one year due to parental leave or experience in the non-academic sector, e.g. industry.)
Resources
In principle, the University places at your disposal an annual travel costs subsidy, for participation in conferences, of up to CHF 2,500.
In the case of a promotion or appointment to an associate or full professorship at the University of St. Gallen, the previous and the new appointment are calculated together with regard to the entitlement to a research semester.
Tenure-track and non-tenure-track Assistant Professorship
We differentiate between two types of assistant professorships:
An appointment as assistant professor with tenure track is associated with the promise of subsequent promotion to a permanent (tenured) Associate Professor, provided that the candidate successfully completes the promotion procedure.
An appointment as non-tenure-track assistant professor is associated with the possibility of promotion to Associate Professor, provided that the position is included in the staffing plan of the relevant School, that the School decides to initiate a promotion procedure, and that the Assistant Professor in question successfully completes the promotion procedure.