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Equality at universities: Cologne's success in the 2030 female professor program!
The University of Cologne is recognized as a “university with strong gender opportunities”, promotes women in professorships and receives financial resources.
Equality at universities: Cologne's success in the 2030 female professor program!
The University of Cologne was selected in the second round of tenders Female Professor Program 2030 Successfully completed and received the title “University with Strong Equal Opportunities”. This enables the institution to apply for a further qualification position and thus actively contribute to the promotion of highly qualified women in science and research.
As part of the program, the federal and state governments provide start-up funding for up to three first-time women who are to be appointed to W2 or W3 professorships. The funding applications for this can be submitted until September 30, 2026. In total, up to 320 million euros will be made available in the current round to promote equality between women and men at universities in Germany.
Details about the program and its effects
The program, which was launched in 2008, has so far supported over 850 professorships. The aim is to increase the proportion of women in top academic positions and to counteract the so-called “leaky pipeline”, which shows a significant decline in the proportion of women in higher academic positions. The numbers speak for themselves: While the proportion of women among doctoral students is 46%, it falls to 37% among postdoctoral candidates and to just 28% among professors states the BMBF.
The Cologne University of Applied Sciences has submitted a comprehensive equality concept, which was evaluated according to criteria such as equality policy goals, structures and measures. The planned measures include gender-sensitive appointment procedures, career paths, as well as mentoring and postdoc programs. This is intended to strengthen decentralized equality structures and take intersectional equality aspects into account.
The perspectives of equality
Professor Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee emphasizes that promoting gender parity and diversity is crucial for the university's innovative strength and performance. Judith Arnau, who also works at the university, underlines the importance of additional funding for equality work in order to further increase the attractiveness of science for women.
The 2030 Female Professor Program is not only a response to the current challenges in the academic sector, but also the desire of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to sustainably improve equality in the academic landscape in Germany. Such objectives are a central component of the fourth program phase, which began in 2023 and runs until 2030. The BMBF encourages universities to develop uniform equality concepts.
The positive developments in equality have already been evaluated in the previous three program phases, and the current funding volume of 320 million euros aims to continue this development. The need for measures to promote diversity is also underpinned by international competitiveness and excellent research results, making the program an essential step towards sustainable change.