An assistant professor may be appointed a permanent position through the tenure track programme. The employee will transition to tenure as associate professor after a maximum of six years employment without the position being advertised. A prerequisite for transitioning to tenure as associate professor is that the employee is deemed academically qualified before the end of the sixth year of employment.

If an assistant professorship involves an option of tenure track employment, this must be clearly stated in the job advertisement. It should also be made clear that the employee, provided that he/she requests and receives a positive assessment before the end of the sixth year of employment, will transition to tenure as associate professor without the position being advertised. The job advertisement must be formulated in broad terms and published both nationally and internationally and must be approved by the dean.

Tenure track positions are advertised as positions on assistant professorship level, and in the advertisement it should be made clear that the employee will transition to tenure as associate professor, provided that he/she receives a positive assessment before the end of the fifth year of employment. 

Job advertisement, and assessment of the applicants for tenure track employment, recommendation for appointment, salary negotiation, etc. take place in accordance with the VIP guidelines and ordinary rules for job advertisement and appointment of assistant professorships. See the guidelines for the composition of assessment committees in connection with tenure track positions in section 2.3.2.

BSS-HR will prepare a letter of appointment for the chosen candidate, which includes the guidelines for tenure track employment as well as the guidelines for transferring to tenure as associate professor. The letter of appointment must also refer to the development plan, which is a requirement for tenure track employment.

The development plan is issued by the department and serves as a supplement to the letter of appointment. The development plan must comprise a description of, among other things, objectives, supervision, and specification of tasks as well as academic assessment criteria that apply in connection with the transition to tenure as associate professor.

The development plan must be approved by the dean/vice-dean before BSS-HR submits the letter of appointment to the chosen candidate.

The academic assessment in connection with transfer to tenure as associate professor must be carried out well in advance and by the end of the employee’s sixth year of employment at the latest. The academic assessment normally takes places within the last six months of the tenure track assistant professor period. The composition of the assessment committee must take place in accordance with the VIP guidelines’ ordinary rules for appointment of associate professors.

The assessment takes place following a request from the employee and according to his/her agreement with the head of department. Should the employee neglect to request an assessment of his/her academic qualifications within the time limit, or if the academic assessment is negative, dismissal under the collective agreement rules is effected.

Researcher taxation scheme
As a rule, employees who are recruited abroad and are employed as assistant professors on the tenure track programme are eligible for the special researcher taxation scheme under which salary is taxed at a special lower rate. The Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT) makes decision regarding all applications for the researcher taxation scheme.

The current rules for the researcher taxation scheme state that the employee is taxed at a lower rate than the normal income tax rate in Denmark. Researchers may participate in the scheme for a maximum of seven years, regardless of whether they are permanently employed.

Disbursement of pension
Regardless of whether or not they are foreign nationals, employees recruited abroad who are permanently employed as assistant professors on the tenure track programme do not have the option of having their pension disbursed, since they are employed in permanent positions.