lossary

G
Beruf means both vocation and profession and both meanings are used as ap-
propriate. It has also a strong connotation of rufen (to call). A call is widely used
to refer to an unsolicited offer from another higher education institution, as well
as an offer in general. Weber also talks about the “inward calling for science.”
Habilitation means a postdoctoral lecturing qualification, a second doctorate
secured upon the presentation of a more substantial dissertation, which is usu-
ally required for an academic career. Since 2002 it is also possible to become a
junior professor and later a professor without the Habilitation.
Lehrfreiheit, literally the freedom to teach, means academic freedom as under-
stood in English, but it also includes the right to teach what one sees fit.
Lernfreiheit, literally the freedom to study, means the freedom of students to
pursue their desired course of studies, especially in the arts and the humanities
and the social sciences, and to advance largely at their own pace.
Privatdozent means literally a private lecturer, an adjunct lecturer, as opposed
to a Dozent (lecturer) and other higher ranking academics who are civil servants.
An adjunct lecturer must offer courses for a certain period of time without
pay, or must be paid on an hourly basis in order to retain his or her lecturing
qualification.
Wissenschaft means a body of objective and organized knowledge and includes
all academic disciplines from anthropology to zoology. In the Anglophone world
science has been more narrowly defined as empirical study, the aim being to es-
tablish general laws; its definition is therefore usually restricted to the life and
physical sciences. “Science,” “scholarship,” “academic,” and their derivatives are
used as appropriate.

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