Also the Earth is going to be radio quiet (with few exceptions) in the next few years. Everything that goes in out out of my place is on cable/internet. No broadcast at all….while in the 1920’s-40’s there were half-million watt AM broadcast transmitters.

Love Peace Joy
Eric

I feel like physics grad schools would get along fine if the PGRE didn’t exist.

Your last paragraph makes it sound like habilitation leads automatically
to a permanent job. It is sometimes a necessary, but never a sufficient,
condition.

Many countries don’t have a tenure-track system. Thus, what is the
criterion for awarding someone a professorship? The Habilitation is used
as a requirement. People with a Habilitation, but not a permanent
professorship, could become a Privatdozent. They are allowed to teach,
and are required to in order to retain the title, but aren’t paid for it. In the
old days, they collected money from the students, thus the “privat” as
opposed to paid by the government.

The lack of a tenure-track system is a huge disadvantage, in my view.
In the old days, with few candidates and many jobs, it wasn’t as big a
problem. Now, it means being a postdoc and moving around for years in
the HOPE of landing a permanent job sometime. Most don’t. I prefer
tenure-track systems.

Germany is gradually moving away from the Habilitation. The idea is to
replace it with something called a Juniorprofessor. Sounds like an
embarrassment, but is really something like assistant professor. Except,
usually, no tenure track. With more foreign candidates, for a long time
the habilitation has no longer been an official requirement, if there are
equivalent qualifications.

The biggest difference between the States and Europe, though, is the huge
number of small (not just in size) colleges in the States. If you come from
a prestigious institution, if all else fails you can become a professor at
Cornfield College and at least hang on to something like you imagined
your career could be. In Europe, it’s basically up or out.