Talk:Privatdozent

Translations for the titles
Considering that this article refers to an academic title that exist mostly in German-speaking countries, it has many German words. An attempt should be made to provide translations when necessary, or if no direct translation is available, an analogy with a similar position found in other countries should be made.---189.250.220.228 (talk) 02:15, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

It would also help if someone edited the article so it actually read like English (hint: you don't refer to a person as 'which').

Exactly what is a "privatdozent"?
I think the article talks about the topic without giving a straight answer to what exactly a Privatdozent (Private Docent) is.

As far as I can tell, by reading this and other information, a Privatdozent is a person who has attained a Doctoral degree, but who actively pursues an academic career, in opposition to, say, getting a Ph.D. and then going to work in the industry. This means, that he or she:
 * 1) Writes another thesis (Habilitation)
 * 2) Teaches at a University
 * 3) Currently does not have full professorship status (tenure) at the University, but expects to get it

One thing I don't understand is the difference with the Habilitation, and the use of the degrees.

As far as I can tell, the Privatdozent writes another thesis, thus obtaining Habilitation. But, what degree is he going to use? When does one use habil.? When does one use PD? Is it correct to use ''PD. Dr.-Ing. habil.''? Are they mutually exclusive? I think I've seen ''Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil.'' but never the former.

Some clarifications about these questions would be appreciated in this and the Habilitation articles.---189.250.220.228 (talk) 02:35, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

No. A PD does NOT teach at a university. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.217.240 (talk) 17:31, 3 August 2012 (UTC)


 * 1. step. A person has attached a doctoral degree.
 * 2. step. The person decides to remain at the university, goes into a postdoctorate, and, after some time or initially (I'm not so sure about that) gets a topic for a Habilitation (not quite accurate but close-enough translation would be "professor's thesis"), and then writes the Habilitation.
 * 3. step. In the meantime (which is long), he assists as a Scientific Employee (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) on a limited-contract basis. [Note: In Germany, a limited contract is not normal. Normally employees have, and certainly wish for, safety and unlimited contracts.]
 * 4. step. Having taken his time for his Habilitation (which tends to have little to do with the day-to-day work as a Scientific Employee), once that thing is accepted, he is a Dr. habil.. It differs by university whether the Habilitation is, additionally, a doctorate of its own (then he is, e. g., a Dr. rer. nat. Dr. rer. nat. habil. for the two thesis) or not (then he is a Dr. rer. nat. habil. for the two thesis).
 * 5. step. He applies for the Venia legendi, which means that he may teach. This is, after he is a Dr. habil., a mere formality (though I guess they may check whether he accepts the Constitution, is no member of Scientology, or the like). After he has that, he is a Privatdozent.
 * 6. step. When he actually does teach at a teaching post, he is a Professor (distinguished into ordinary professors, which means those who occupy a chair, and extraordinary ones who have some area of their own which is not a chair).
 * A note on titels.
 * 1. It is either P.D. or PD.
 * 2. There is no "PD Dr.(-Ing.) habil.", as PD implies the habil. Indeed I was just about to write the same thing about Prof (and give some comment to over-titulation and the like; and yes, Prof. Dr. habil is very unusual), but coming to think of it, as a Habilitation continues to be very much esteemed but no longer altogether necessary for the professorship, they might want to underline they have actually habilitated.
 * 3. Textbooks on style and courtesy say that a PD is to be addressed as "Herr Doktor" without mentioning the PD anywhere except in a full title. However, in my view practice says the contrary.
 * Alternative way.
 * A doctor enters as a junior professor, has an actual employment post (of civil-servant status) called "Junior Professor", and after this can become a professor. However, since "professor" is not a title but a post, he would gain no title from his junior professorship, if he does not get a professorship afterwards.
 * A note on the quasi-title of professor.
 * I said that professor is not a titles. But it is sort of a title.
 * 1. PDs may apply for a little professorship (the honorary professor, if I'm rightly informed), and then be called a Professor with teaching only the most limited amount. As a matter of fact they may appear some rare times at the university to perform their "titular lecturing" (Titellehre). After all professor means teacher. This is mostly done in medicine, where the head manager and the most important department managers of the annexed hospitals (not only the university central hospital, but most of the major hospitals are attached to some university for cooperation) regularly get the title.
 * 2. Retired professors are called professors.
 * A note on teaching.
 * When I said that PDs may teach and professors do teach, it was about the formal definitions of their respective roles, and some sort of "independence" they have in doing so. PDs can teach some on a private basis, supervise theses, etc. (hence the name); and besides, if they are still Scientific Employees, they can give lectures just like professors. Here, the main difference between them and a professor is that the professor has a professorship and a lifetime employment. Though even a PD or a doctor may have a lifetime employment, if he is an Akademischer Rat or Akademischer Oberrat.
 * And some specific lecture can be taught by mere doctors (being Scientific Employees), and one instance of the lecture may even be jumped-in by a Scientific Employee on a master's level.--77.4.77.213 (talk) 10:55, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Gathering material
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/forschung-und-lehre/akademischer-alltag-privatdozenten-sind-das-uni-prekariat-11657573.html

http://www.zeit.de/2010/13/C-Unisklaven

https://www.uni-erlangen.de/einrichtungen/personalabteilung/handbuch-personal/lehrbefugnis/

English sources are welcome, especially on the more historical aspects. Mootros (talk) 06:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Senior lecturer claims to be akin to the Swiss interpretation of the Privatdozent. That may be a route to be reconsidered. Yotwen (talk) 07:28, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

redundant phrases

 * 1) 1 Introduction last sentence:"The title is not necessarily connected to a salaried position[...]" after next:" however, the title as such is not a salaried appointment[...] Repetition is redundant = mental disorder talkaholism

"Although rare, the title can be formally revoked ("Remotion") in case of serious misconduct or disagreements. [...] In Nazi Germany, most Jewish academics had their title removed under the Nuremberg Laws, in particular the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service."
 * 2

either it´s rare or it´s common as applied by Law = another mental disorder. Nazi Germany Anti-Jew Legislation is also a different context = another mental disorder--2003:CC:93C1:7801:15E9:4440:31D0:F375 (talk) 05:32, 3 June 2016 (UTC).


 * "Repetition" here is the WP:lead. #1 is a summary of what follows. Please don't remove parts from the summary.
 * I have removed #2 as this tangential as you rightly identified. Mootros (talk) 09:59, 3 June 2016 (UTC)