On March 17, 2023, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) presented the key points of a draft bill to amend the Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act (WissZeitVG). The GAP is issuing a statement on this matter.
In response to the vehement criticism of the draft bill, not least from #ichbinhanna and #profsfuerhanna, the BMBF has already announced its intention to discuss the question of the maximum duration of fixed-term postdoc qualification contracts once again with representatives of trade unions, employee initiatives, universities, and research institutions.
The Board of the Society for Analytical Philosophy warmly welcomes this invitation to dialogue, as the amendment offers no decisive improvement: for example, a maximum fixed-term duration of three years for the postdoc phase (as in the BMBF proposal) is too short for qualifying for a university professorship. Furthermore, regulations on the duration of fixed-term contracts cannot guarantee what is primarily required: that the states and universities create more permanent positions for mid-level faculty and/or tenure-track professorships.
Instead of new compromise solutions in the WissZeitVG, a joint initiative by the federal government, states, and universities would be desirable to provide the necessary financial and legal framework. This could also be an opportunity to consider paradigm shifts, such as those already presented by the GAP (in a joint paper with the German Society for Philosophy). You can find the paper here.
You can view the GAP’s statement from July 3, 2023, regarding the BMBF’s ministerial draft in connection with the WissZeitVG here.