The Federal Constitutional Court has deemed certain provisions of Berlin’s Higher Education Act incompatible with the Basic Law (Grundgesetz). The ruling, published on Thursday, stems from a successful constitutional complaint filed by Humboldt University.
At the heart of the dispute lay a legal obligation imposed on Berlin’s universities, requiring them to offer fixed-term employees with doctoral degrees, working in qualification positions, a permanent contract upon achieving their qualification goals at the conclusion of their initial employment agreement.
The Constitutional Court’s decision asserts that this specific regulation infringes upon the fundamental right to academic freedom. Furthermore, the court found the provision to be formally unconstitutional due to a lack of legislative competence at the state level (Decision of June 25, 2025 – 1 BvR 368/22). This decision impacts the legal framework surrounding employment practices at Berlin’s public universities.