Habilitation (education)

Habilitation is a term used within the university system in France, Germany, Austria, and some other European countries such as the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and countries of former Soviet Union, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, etc. It can be used to describe either a qualification, the process of earning that qualification, or—incorrectly—the thesis written as part of that process (which is called Habilitationsschrift). A Habilitation qualifies for being admitted as a professor at a university. Simply stated, a Habilitation Thesis is a post-doctoral thesis produced for the purpose of demonstrating yet further competence in that research area covered. It is typically pursued by those in the German-speaking world who aspire to attain a Professorship. A Habilitation Thesis follows a very similar pattern of a regular Ph.D. thesis in that a bound thesis is produced and the Habilitation script is then typically subjected to a viva voce.

A Habilitation thesis can be either cumulative (based on previous research, be it articles or monographs) or monographical, i.e. a specific, unpublished thesis, which then has the tendency to be very long. While cumulative habilitations are predominant in some fields (such as medicine), they are almost unheard of in others (such as in law). The cumulative form of the Habilitation can be well compared to the D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) Degree, in the English-speaking world, which is awarded on the basis of published work. It is at least in theory not necessary to possess a Ph.D. before being awarded a D.Sc. This same rule applies a lot less to a Habilitation candidate: in the German-speaking world, for example, Ph.D. degrees are actually graded similar to a primary degree or diploma qualification. In reality, only those candidate receiving the highest or second-highest grade for their Ph.D. thesis would actually be encouraged to proceed to the Habilitation.

The process
In order to hold the rank of Professor within the German system, it is (or at least was) in most fields generally necessary to have attained the Habilitation. It is thus a qualification at a higher level than the degree of Promotion (the German equivalent of the Ph.D.). It is usually earned after several years of research, either "internally" (working at a university in a position as a Wissenschaftlicher Assistent (academic assistant) or Akademischer Rat (academic councillor) or "externally" (as a practitioner such as high school teacher, lawyer, etc.). With the Habilitation, the status of Privatdozent (university lecturer, PD or Priv.-Doz. for short) is usually granted.

The Habilitation is awarded after a public lecture, to be held after the thesis has been accepted, and after which the venia legendi is bestowed, i.e. the right to teach (and to be a professor of). In some areas, such as law, the venia, and thus the Habilitation, is only given for certain sub-fields (such as Criminal Law, Civil Law, etc.); in others, for the entire field.

Those who have achieved Habilitation can denote the fact by placing the abbreviation "Dr.hab." or "Dr.habil." before their names, though this is only common for those who have not yet obtained or relinquish a Privatdozent position.

It is possible to get a professorship without Habilitation, if the search committee attests the candidate to have qualifications equalling those of a Habilitation and the higher ranking bodies (the university's senate and the country's ministry of education) approve of that. However, while some subjects make liberal use of this (e.g. the natural sciences in order to employ candidates from countries with different systems and the arts to employ active artists), in other subjects it is rarely done.

The German debate about the Habilitation
Currently (as of 2004), the Habilitation is subject of a major political debate in Germany. The former Federal Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Buhlman, aimed to abolish the system of the Habilitation and replace it by the alternative concept of the Juniorprofessur: A researcher should first be employed for up to six years as a "junior professor" (a non-tenured position roughly equivalent to assistant professor in the United States or lecturer in the United Kingdom) and so prove his or her suitability to hold a tenured professorship.

German academia has split opinions about this change:

Many, especially researchers in the natural sciences, as well as young researchers, have long demanded the abandonment of the Habilitation as they felt it to be an unnecessary and time-consuming obstacle in a scientific career, which contributes to the brain drain of talented young researchers who feel their chances of getting a professorship at a reasonable age to be better abroad and hence move, e.g., to the USA. Also, many feel overly dependent on their superior (the professor heading the research group) as he or she has the power to delay the process of completing the Habilitation.

On the other hand, among senior researchers, especially in the humanities and the social sciences, the Habilitation is regarded as a valuable instrument of quality control before giving somebody a tenured position for life.

Three Länder (states) with conservative governments have filed at suit at the German Constitutional Court against the new law replacing the Habilitation with the Juniorprofessur. The Court concurred with their argument that the Bundestag (the federal parliament) cannot pass such a law, because the German constitution explicitly states that affairs of education are the sole responsibility of the Länder and declared in July 2004 the law to be invalid.

This now leaves the question about the future of the Habilitation, as well as status of the first few Juniorprofessors appointed so far, unclear again.

Similarities in other countries
The degree of Docteur d'Etat formerly awarded by universities in France had a somewhat similar purpose.

Belgium had a similar degree until 1995: it was called "Aggregatie voor het Hoger Onderwijs" (roughly: Higher Education Faculty Qualification) in Dutch and "Agrégation pour l'Enseignement Supérieur" in French.

Although these awards are at a higher level than the Ph.D., they should not be equated to the higher doctorates awarded by universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Commonwealth.

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