Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Romania and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching, and further education, which usually includes a second dissertation.
The degree, sometimes abbreviated dr. habil. (), dr hab. (), or D.Sc. (Doctor of Sciences in Poland and some CIS countries), is often a qualification for full professorship in those countries.
In German-speaking countries it allows the degree holder to bear the title PD (for ). In a number of countries there exists an academic post of docent, appointment to which often requires such a qualification. The degree conferral is usually accompanied by a public oral defence event (a lecture or a colloquium) with one or more opponents. The habilitation thesis is intended to demonstrate that the author has mastered their field in its entirety. For this reason, it is usually written on a topic that is very different from the subject of the doctoral dissertation. Unlike doctoral theses, which must be published by law in Germany, many habilitation theses remain unpublished.
Habilitation is usually awarded 5–15 years after a PhD degree or its equivalent. Achieving this academic degree does not automatically give the scientist a paid position, though many people who apply for the degree already have steady university employment.
History and etymology The term habilitation is derived from the Medieval Latin , meaning "to make suitable, to fit", from Classical Latin "fit, proper, skillful". The degree developed in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the seventeenth century ().Arguably one of the earliest German habilitation holders is Erhard Weigel (Dr. phil. hab., Leipzig, 1652, according to the Erhard Weigel Gesselschaft ). Initially, habilitation was synonymous with "doctoral qualification". The term became synonymous with "post-doctoral qualification" in Germany in the 19th century "when holding a doctorate seemed no longer sufficient to guarantee a proficient transfer of knowledge to the next generation".Christian Fleck, Sociology in Austria, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Afterwards, it became normal in the German university system to write two doctoral theses: the inaugural thesis (), completing a course of study, and the habilitation thesis (), which opens the road to a professorship.Carl Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition, Volume 1, BRILL, 2016, p. vii.
Since the early 21st century, the habilitation is no longer mandatory for appointment to a professorship in Germany. Since then, there have been major differences between the various disciplines. While the habilitation remains common in most humanities and in medical research, it has become the exception in many natural sciences.
Process 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 tends to be very long. While cumulative habilitations are predominant in some fields (such as medicine), they have been, since about a century ago, almost unheard of in others (such as law).
The level of scholarship of a habilitation is considerably higher than for a doctoral dissertation in the same academic tradition in terms of quality and quantity, and must be accomplished independently, without direction or guidance of a faculty supervisor. In the sciences, publication of numerous (sometimes ten or more) research articles is required during the habilitation period of about four to ten years. In the humanities, a major book publication may be a prerequisite for defense.
It is possible to get a professorship without habilitation, if the search committee attests the candidate to have qualifications equaling those of a habilitation and the higher-ranking bodies (the university's senate and the country's ministry of education) approve. 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 habilitation is awarded after a public lecture, to be held after the thesis has been accepted, and after which the (Latin: 'permission to read', i.e., to lecture) is bestowed. In some areas, such as law, philosophy, theology and sociology, the , and thus the habilitation, is given only for certain sub-fields (such as criminal law, civil law, or philosophy of science, practical philosophy, etc.); in others, for the entire field.
Although disciplines and countries vary in the typical number of years for obtaining habilitation after getting a doctorate, it usually takes longer than for the American academic tenure. For example, in Poland until 2018, the statutory time for getting a habilitation (traditionally, although not obligatorily, relying on a book publication) is eight years. Theoretically, if an assistant professor does not succeed in obtaining habilitation in this time, they should be moved to a position of a lecturer, with a much higher teaching load and no research obligations, or even be dismissed. In practice, however, on many occasions schools extend the deadlines for habilitation for most scholars if they do not make it in time, and there is evidence that they are able to finish it in the near future.
Austria In Austria, the procedure is currently regulated by national law (Austrian University Act UG2002 §103). The graduation process includes additionally to the sub-commission of the senate (including students representatives for a hearing on the teaching capabilities of the candidate) an external reviewer. Holding a habilitation allows academics to do research and supervise (PhD, MSc, ...) on behalf of this university. As it is an academic degree, this is even valid if the person is not enrolled (or not enrolled anymore) at this institution (). Appointment to a full professorship with an international finding commission includes a venia docendi (UG2002 §98(12)), which is restricted to the time of the appointment (UG2002 §98(13) – ).
While the habilitation ensures the rights of the independent research and the supervision, it is on behalf of the statute of the universities to give those rights also to, e.g., associate professors without habilitation. As of 2014 the major Austrian universities do that only for master's level students, but not for PhD programs.
Brazil () is a title (similar to in Germany) granted to holders of doctorate degrees upon submission of a cumulative thesis followed by a viva voce examination. It has practically disappeared amongst Brazilian Federal HEIs. It is still required at a few institutions for admissions as a full professor (), most notably in the three state universities of the state of São Paulo, as well as at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).
France
The degree of (State Doctor) or (State Doctorate), called (Doctor of Letters) or (Doctor of Sciences) before the 1950s,Alan D. Schrift (2006), Twentieth-Century French Philosophy: Key Themes And Thinkers, Blackwell Publishing, p. 208. formerly awarded by universities in France had a somewhat similar purpose. In 1984, the was replaced by the (literally: Habilitation to Supervise Research).
The award of the French habilitation is a general requirement for being the main supervisor of PhD students and to be eligible for full professor positions. The official eligibility named is granted by the French (CNU). Members of corps who are assimilated to full professors by the CNU do not require the French habilitation to supervise PhD students. Depending on the field, the French habilitation requires consistent research from five to ten years after appointment as an associate professor (), a substantial amount of significant publications, the supervision of at least one PhD student from start to graduation, and/or a successful track record securing extramural funding as a principal investigator, as well as a sound, ambitious, and feasible five-year research project. Outstanding postdoctoral researchers who are not yet appointed to a university could also obtain the habilitation if they meet the requirements. The French habilitation committee is constituted by a majority of external and sometimes foreign referees. The French habilitation entitles associate professors () to apply for full professor positions ().
Germany
In order to hold the rank of a full professor (W3) within the German university system, it is necessary to have obtained the habilitation (or "habilitation-equivalent achievements"). This can be demonstrated by leading a research group, being a junior professor, or other achievements in research and teaching as a post-doctoral researcher. The habilitation in Germany is usually earned after several years of independent research and teaching, either "internally" while working at a university or "externally" as a research and teaching-oriented practitioner. Once the habilitation thesis (, often simply ) and all other requirements are completed, the candidate (called in German) "has habilitated him- or herself" and receives an extension to his/her doctoral degree, namely Dr. habil. (with the specification, such as Dr. rer. nat. habil.). The habilitation is thus an additional qualification at a higher level than the German doctoral degree. Only those candidates receiving the highest (or second-highest) grade for their doctoral thesis are encouraged to proceed with a habilitation.
A typical procedure after completing the habilitation is that the successful researcher officially receives the so-called (Latin for "permission for lecturing") for a specific academic subject at universities (sometimes also referred to as , Latin for "right of teaching"). Someone in possession of the but not a professorship has the right to carry the title Privatdozent (for men) or (for women), abbreviated PD or The status as a PD requires doing some (generally unpaid) teaching in order to keep the title ( or titular teaching).
German habilitation debate
In 2004, the habilitation was the subject of a major political debate in Germany. The former Federal Minister for Education and Science, Edelgard Bulmahn, aimed to abolish the system of the habilitation and replace it with the alternative concept of the junior professor: 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) and so prove their suitability for holding a tenured professorship.