"There are two main career tracks in the German university system. The traditional track consists—at junior level—of a 6 + 6‐year period based on an ‘up‐or‐out’ principle: 6‐year doctoral period (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), eventually followed by a 6‐year postdoctoral period (wissenschaftlicher Assistent) aimed to achieve a habilitation...Germany is phasing out the habilitation...The habilitation aims to reduce the chances of low‐quality hiring and institutional inbreeding, yet there is no evidence about its effectiveness in increasing the quality of hiring...Moreover, the habilitation process discourages and hinders candidates from other systems by impinging burdensome bureaucratic requirements"
Seeber, M. and Mampaey, J. (2021) How do university systems' features affect academic inbreeding? Career rules and language requirements in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Higher Education Quarterly.
