When a German university wants to appoint a professor, the candidate receives the Ruf, the call. Then the Berufungsverhandlungen, the appointment negotiations, begin. The candidate and the university negotiate about funds for equipment, running budgets, staff and rooms. In December 2024 the German Association of University Professors published an analysis of a survey of these procedures. In about three quarters of cases, the whole procedure took longer than twelve months. Only 41 percent of the negotiations ended within three months.