德國大學教師人事制度遲至21世紀初，才有較大幅度的改革。本文以文件分析法探究此波改革之相關法制與政策，首先探究大學教師之人事結構，而後評析改革的內容與問題。由於德國大學中非教授之學術人員比例超過八成，因而使得學術後進間的競爭態勢加劇，以「私聘講師」的處境為例，其邁向教授職位的攀登過程猶如天路歷程。而講座教授制度源自中世紀時期行會組織，傳統的「講座教授大學」在1960年代已轉移為「組群大學」。再則，教授之徵聘須遵守「留校任教禁止」，且過去必須通過「教授備選資格」。20世紀末，大學引進有期限的「初級教授」，且教授的薪俸由「照顧原則」漸轉向「績效原則」，由W制薪資取代C制薪資。但前述改革仍充滿險阻，包含傳統組織文化難以撼動、「成本中立」下經費拮据、留校任教禁止原則鬆動而有近親繁殖疑慮、績效基準難確立等。

Ide-scale reform of the faculty system used at German universities only began during the 21st century. This paper used document analysis to investigate these reform policies, beginning with the system used for appointing professors. Over 80 percent of the academic personnel at German universities are non-professor staff, giving rise to intense competition between promising young academics. Special attention is given to the difficulties faced by a “private lecturer” climbing the academic ladder. Also included is a discussion on how the professorial chair system developed out of medieval guilds, and how during the 1960s the universities controlled by tenured faculty were transformed into group universities. This paper also discussed the ban on universities from offering teaching positions to its former students, as well as the previous system of habilitation. Also covered was the introduction of short-term junior professorships during the latter part of the 20th century, as well as the gradual introduction of a performance-based pay scale. This paper concluded with a discussion of the problems related to these reforms, including organizational inertia, budgetary shortfalls in a cost-neutral situation, concerned about inbreeding as a result of the relaxing of the regulations preventing the hiring of former students as teaching staff, and the difficulty in evaluating performance.