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Below you will find the glossary of important terms used by the Faculty of Law in the area of appointments, promotions, and habilitations (BBH).
The application for appointment is the final product of the committee's work. It contains all relevant information from the procedure according to the specifications of the Executive Board of the University and the faculty. This includes the teaching description of the professorship, the appointment list with information on the list placers, the composition of the appointment committee incl. a statement on the representation of both genders and information on the external experts, information on how to deal with the question of bias in the committee, the description of the requirement profile of the professorship and the selection criteria based on it, a brief description of the procedure, the names of all candidates with information on the proportion of applications from women as well as persons with Swiss citizenship, a brief justification of the B- and C-categorization of applications, a detailed evaluation of all A-candidates based on the submitted application documents, the literature reviews as well as the impressions from the teaching demonstration and the committee interview, and a comparative evaluation and justification of the ranking of the list candidates.
The application for extension for professorships ad personam and assistant professorships includes, among other things, information about the candidate, the teaching description, the period of the extension or the date of the desired termination of the fixed term, a description of the professor's past achievements and planned activities in research, teaching, promotion of junior academics, services, and academic self-government, and a justification for the extension. Extension applications for professorships ad personam and assistant professorships with tenure track must be submitted to the Executive Board of the University at the latest three months before the expiry of the time limit, extension applications for assistant professorships without tenure track at the latest two months before the expiry of the time limit.
The clerk is a committee member with special duties. As a rule, she or he is a member of the department concerned and writes the structural report, summarizes her or his own impressions from the test lectures, the committee discussions, and on the fit of the A-candidates in the shortlist meeting, and finalizes the application for appointment.
In the committee interview, the committee chair usually poses the same questions to all A-candidates. Among other things, these questions should provide information about the motivation for the application, upcoming or desired research projects, the attitude towards teaching and the promotion of junior academics, leadership skills and experience, or the willingness to participate in academic self-administration. On the part of the faculty, only members of the Appointment Committee designated by the Faculty Assembly and the Executive Board of the University may participate in the committee meetings.
The selection meeting and the shortlist meeting are committee meetings. Only members of the Appointment Committee selected by the Faculty Assembly and Executive Board of the University may attend such meetings. Regular committee members who are unable to attend may be represented by elected alternate committee members. If all appointed committee members of a division or rank or all external committee members are unable to attend and time permits, the faculty and Executive Board of the University must appoint additional alternate members.
Selectus is a recruiting tool developed by frentix that specializes in university appointment processes. Candidates submit their applications online, directly through the tool. Committee members can view them after the application deadline and evaluate them at their discretion or upon request. Later, the Dean's Office also uploads the A-candidates' writings submitted for review, as well as the reviews. Once the Dean's Office has entered them in the appropriate procedure, UZH-internal committee members can log in with their UZH login. The external committee members receive their login data in a separate email.
The habilitation application includes the exact designation of the subject area applied for the Venia Legendi in German and English, the title of the habilitation thesis and the declaration whether habilitation proceedings have already been begun at another university. Two double-sided copies printed in A4 format and the PDF of the habilitation thesis must be enclosed with the habilitation application, as well as a dated curriculum vitae with date of birth, academic titles (incl. place and year of acquisition), private address and email address, telephone number, nationality and, if applicable, place of citizenship, a dated list of publications, a dated list of courses, and evidence of university teaching qualifications such as course evaluations. There are no formal requirements for the habilitation thesis including the title page and the habilitation application. The writing can be submitted in folders and does not need to be bound. The Dean's Office may request additional printed copies if necessary.
At the selection meeting, the Appointment Committee reviews and evaluates the applications received and assigns candidates to categories A, B, or C, respectively. A-candidates are those who best meet the selection criteria and are invited to a trial lecture and a committee interview. B-category candidates are those who are in principle eligible for the professorship, but are less of a good fit than A-candidates. C-categorized are those candidates who (partially) do not meet the criteria and are therefore not eligible for the professorship. The selection meeting is a committee meeting.
In the shortlist meeting, the Appointment Committee first acknowledges the A candidates based on the application materials submitted, literature reviews, and impressions from the teaching demonstration and committee interview. An open exchange is followed by a series of anonymous votes in which the Appointment Committee decides which candidates will be placed on the appointment list and in what ranking order. Finally, the committee approves the appointment list, usually in an open vote. The shortlist meeting is a committee meeting.
The committee appointed by the faculty makes its first decisions before being appointed by the Executive Board of the University as the faculty Structural Committee. The committee does not become an Appointment Committee until the Executive Board of the University approves the committee list.
The structural report explains the orientation of the proposed professorship and how it fits into the planning concept of the faculty as well as the available or required resources. The text of the call for applications, the profile of requirements, and the evaluation criteria are derived from this. It is written by the administrator according to a template provided by the Dean's Office, which takes into account the guidelines of the Executive Board of the University for the formal design.
The teaching demonstrations of A-candidates in appointment procedures take place in the form of a trial lecture or a scientific trial presentation followed by a discussion, depending on the decision of the committee and on whether the faculty offers a lecture that is suitable as a vessel for trial lectures.
