Capital of female professors

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22.01.2021
Capital of Female Professors

Brain City Berlin

Berlin universities are above the national average in terms of equality. In 2020, the state universities in the Brain City Berlin filled around half (46%) of the new professorships with women.

When it comes to equality in the appointment of female professors, Brain City Berlin continues to play a pioneering role. According to the Berlin Senate Chancellery for Higher Education and Research, 84 of the total 181 newly appointed professors at Berlin's state universities were women.

With 46% of its faculty being female, the capital is above the national average. According to the Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), in 2019 one out of every three of the 2,995 professors at Berlin's state universities were women. The national average lay at just 25.6%.

The three major Berlin universities, the Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), Humboldt-University zu Berlin (HU Berlin), and the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), together with the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin awarded 63 (50%) of the 127 new appointments to women last year.

Administrative positions at Berlin's universities are also increasingly being held by women. Current examples: In addition to the HU Berlin, the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin (ASH Berlin) , the Hanns Eisler Scholl of Music Berlin, and the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch” (Academy of Dramatic Arts) and the Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen Berlin (Catholic University of Applied Social Science) have also recently appointed women as their leaders.

“Berlin is the capital of women scientists, as was impressively highlighted last year when the Nobel Prize was awarded to Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, Michael Müller, Governing Mayor of Berlin, remarked. “We can be proud of this development, because it shows that our universities and research institutes attract outstanding women researchers all over the world and that Berlin’s commitment to equal opportunities in science is successful. Teaching and research and our entire innovation location benefit from this."

One of the main drivers of this development is the 2001 Berlin program to promote equal opportunities for women in research and teaching, the “Berliner ChancengleichheitsProgramm” (BCP). In 2021 a new funding phase will start. The programme provides funding to the state's universities and colleges for projects designed to improve gender equality. (vdo)