Interview Data of the DZHW Study BerBeo 

The project Monotoring Appointment Procedures (BerBeo) is a research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and carried out by the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies GmbH (DZHW). The project analysed (procedural) quality assurance in appointment procedures for professors at German (state) universities through officers for appointment procedures. Officers for appointment procedures are defined as persons who are responsible for the procedural quality assurance of appointment procedures for professors and – depending on the implementation of their position – may also perform other tasks to support the decision-making process in appointment matters.

The data package made available for secondary use is based on qualitative expert interviews conducted with officers for appointment procedures, chairs of appointment committees and members of university leadership. The interviews, which were conducted between November 2020 and November 2021, focus on the quality assurance of appointment procedures for professors at German universities. In addition to the establishment and implementation of the types of professorial and non-professorial officers for appointment procedures to assure the quality of the procedures, the underlying understanding of quality of the respective actors and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the running of the procedures were also discussed.
Besides 10 interviews with officers for appointment procedures, 7 interviews with chairs of appointment committees and 7 interviews with members of university leaderships, the data package includes the interview guidelines, as well as the transcription guide, the cover letters used for field access, the data protection information and the declaration of consent to data protection.