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Lecturer salaries
From universities to adult education institutions: What do lecturers earn?

A smiling lecturer at a whiteboard

The salary of a lecturer depends on the sector and type of employment 漏 Prostock-Studio / iStock.com

They hold university lectures, give continuing education courses and hold talks for executives. The range of possible jobs for lecturers is wide 鈥 as are the differences in salary.

Updated: 2024-05-14

By: Julia Holzapfel, Maike Schade; translation: DACHA Media

Lecturers are professionals who teach at universities and institutions of adult education. At universities, they can include professors, research assistants, adjuncts and guest lecturers.

In adult education, lecturers work at adult education centres, chambers of industry and commerce or other public or church organizations, for example. As opposed to universities, they do not need to possess a doctorate or a habilitation (though there are exceptions). Depending on the employer or client, they tend to be experts in a particular subject area who have appropriate educational skills.

The category of lecturers is broad, and it includes all teaching staff at universities 鈥 professors, research assistants, adjuncts and guest lecturers. The following salaries are to be expected:

  • Professors are paid according to the W salary scale and receive a base salary of just under 5,000 euros (W1) to around 8,000 euros gross per month (W3).
  • Research assistants, i.e., doctoral candidates and postdocs, are paid according to the collective bargaining agreement. Depending on their pay grade 鈥 E13, E14 or E15 鈥 and their professional experience, they earn between 4,500 and 7,000 euros gross per month.
  • Private lecturers (Privatdozent), a specific category in Germany that refers to academics who have achieved their habilitation but do not yet hold a professorship, must hold lectures in order to maintain their status. But they are not remunerated for their lecturing activities.
  • Guest lecturers or adjunct professors(Lehrbeauftragter) are usually paid according to the number of hours (45 minutes) per week they teach in a given semester 鈥 called a semester week hour. The hourly rate varies and is generally between 15 and 50 euros, but usually between 25 and 30 euros gross.


Around 70 percent of lecturers in adult education are freelancers and the hourly wages they earn vary significantly, as the database for freelancers from the labour union ver.di shows. They range from 20 euros per hour to 1,000 euros a day.

Less well-paid jobs predominate, which is why the financial situation of freelance lecturers is often precarious. It is important to bear in mind that taxes, health insurance, travel costs, insurance and expenses all come out of the hourly wages.

Top fees of several hundred euros per day tend to be paid by business clients. But those high fees are usually only paid to lecturers with outstanding qualifications and a high level of experience, both in the subject area and as a lecturer.听

Employer and employee representatives have agreed on a significant increase in the industry minimum wage for employees in education with at least a bachelor's degree in teaching and training. Salaries are set to rise from 3,121.82 euros gross per month in 2023 to 3,537.24 euros gross per month in 2026. The hourly minimum will rise from 18.41 to 20.26 euros per full hour.

Minimum wage for teaching staff in continuing education*)

Year Hourly wage Monthly wage

2024

19.15 鈧

3,274.30 鈧

2025

19.96 鈧

3,384.66 鈧

2026

20.86 鈧

3,537.27 鈧

*)Teaching staff in continuing vocational training in accordance with SGB II and III, Group 2 (with a university degree, for example); all gross figures in euros

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Lecturers in adult education who can freely choose their place of residence would be well advised to settle in the states of Hesse, Hamburg, Baden-W眉rttemberg or Bavaria. According to an analysis by the portal gehalt.de, average salaries in those states are over 5,000 euros. In the states that were part of the former East Germany (with the exception of Berlin), on the other hand, lecturers earn less than 4,000 euros per month on average. Lecturers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania earn the least, at 3,677 euros a month.听

It must be noted, however, that the date from gehalt.de is based on individual surveys and responses and may therefore differ from other sources. Salaries for lecturers in adult education are recorded here.

Lecturer salaries by federal state (adult education)

State Average gross monthly salary (euro)

Hesse

4,056

Baden-Wuerttemberg

4,084

Hamburg

4,019

Bavaria

3,986

North Rhine-Westphalia

3,915

Rhineland-Palatinate

3,862

Bremen

3,816

Saarland

3,788

Berlin

3,761

Lower Saxony

3,725

Schleswig-Holstein

3,685

Saxony

3,441

Thuringia

3,437

Brandenburg

3,429

Saxony-Anhalt

3,402

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

3,354

Current as of March 2024

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