Mission statement for better employment conditions

Social and fair employment conditions for all staff are particularly important to the Executive Board at Technische Universität Berlin. It is the people working at a university who shape the institution, who drive and support research and teaching, and who enable visions, high-profile projects and excellence to become reality.

To reflect this, the Executive Board will focus on improving employment conditions in various areas of our university over the coming years. In doing so, we will build on the many measures previously implemented by past administrations, such as minimum contract periods for doctoral researchers. However, there is still room for improvement in some areas. We are aware that organizational structures often develop over decades and that there are different needs in the various working areas of a university. This is why we see a commitment to better employment conditions as a guiding principle. This will be a long journey and one that requires many measures as well as the involvement of the responsible bodies. But even the longest journeys can be achieved together by taking many individual steps - and we have already made good progress! The Executive Board is committed to implementing the following principles and measures in the coming years:

• We are committed to ensuring that all employees are paid more in line with their job responsibilities.
• We are aware of our responsibility to our staff in times of inflation and a difficult housing market and will actively support room for maneuver within the scope of financial and legal possibilities.
• We strive to offer full-time positions to externally funded employees.
• TU Berlin is a family-friendly university, so each and every position will continue to be suitable for part-time work at the employee's own request.
• Wherever part-time positions exist, it must be ensured that staff are not required to work beyond the hours for which they are employed.
• At TU Berlin, doctoral researchers employed with funds from the University budget already generally have a full-time position. Our goal is to implement this across the board. In addition, we are committed to ensuring that only full-time positions for doctoral studies are applied for from third-party funding sources. We, as the Executive Board, are working hard in the political arena to ensure that third-party funding organizations finance doctoral positions as full-time positions.
• For budget-funded doctoral researchers, a minimum contract period of 5 years already applies. For postdocs, a minimum contract period in accordance with the law is to be established.
• In order to promote attractive job profiles, avoid advertising part-time positions and enable more permanent posts, pooling models are supported where several departments share academic staff or employees in technology, service and administration.
• TU Berlin aims to increase the proportion of permanent positions among academic staff in the coming years. To achieve this, various structures and measures are being established.
• The allocation of permanent positions is based on an open call for applications, and the selection procedure on the suitability of the applicants and not on external or structural criteria. 
• A transparent job evaluation process is particularly important to TU Berlin.
• New framework conditions for scholarships and work contracts need to ensure that they cannot be used as instruments to replace regular employment relationships.
• We will also establish active measures to reduce the gender pay gap for professorships.

TU Berlin Executive Board 
Prof. Dr. Geraldine Rauch, President
Professor Dr. -Ing Stephan Völker, Vice President for Research and Appointments
Christian Schröder, Vice President for Education, Teacher Training and Continuing Education
Lars Oeverdieck, Vice President for Administration