The proportion of women occupying professorships at Freie Universität Berlin has risen to the highest figure ever recorded at the university, with forty percent of professors appointed in 2022 being female. This is two percentage points more than in 2020 and seven percentage points more than in 2010, as president of Freie Universität Berlin Professor Günter M. Ziegler announced last Thursday evening at the reception for new appointees to the university. All professorships were factored into the survey, excluding C2, endowed, visiting, and senior professorships. From the thirty-nine positions accepted in 2022, twenty-six (or two-thirds) were occupied by women.

In terms of tenure-track professorships, which were primarily filled via the German federal and state governments’ program to support early-career researchers, the proportion of positions offered to and accepted by women was as high as 72.7 percent. The proportion of international professors appointed was 28.2 percent, which is more than double the number recorded in 2021. President Ziegler thanked the employees from all across the university who are responsible for appointment procedures. Since they managed to successfully carry out appointment procedures in spite of the restrictions put in place over the last three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with the total number of accepted positions remaining as high as ever, this can be considered an impressive feat.