[Medical habilitation in German-speaking countries : Quantitative assessment of content and elaboration of habilitation guidelines].

BACKGROUND: Habilitation defines the qualification to conduct self-contained university teaching and is the key for access to a professorship at German, Austrian and Swiss universities. Despite all changes implemented in the European higher education systems during the Bologna process, it is the highest qualification level issued through the process of an university examination and remains the core concept of scientific careers in these countries. In the field of medicine, this applies not only to scientific staff at the universities but also to those medical doctors aiming at a clinical career track.
OBJECTIVES: To provide a quantitative analysis of the scientific, didactic, and procedural criteria for medical habilitation in German-speaking countries.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on the guidelines of all 43 medical academic institutions, the criteria which candidates are required to fulfil prior to habilitation as well as formal requirements related to the habilitation procedure itself have been acquired and quantitatively analyzed.
RESULTS: Having evaluated all habilitation guidelines by means of 87 items, the quantitative analysis revealed significant differences in terms of number, kind and scale of criteria stated therein. Most habilitation guidelines scarcely define the capabilities applicants have to prove: concerning the scientific qualifications on types of publications for instance, no item was mentioned in more than half of all habilitation guidelines.
CONCLUSION: Based on this data analysis, the authors discuss the related literature and describe five main distinguishing areas of habilitation guidelines in terms of the set of the formal and procedural framework as well as the prequalification and postqualification criteria imposed on habilitation candidates. There are therefore substantial differences in the organization of the habilitation for medicine.