More teaching staff on temporary contracts

Erasmus University leads the way where temporary contracts for teaching staff is concerned. This appears from figures published by the Association of universities in the Netherlands (VSNU). Over the past ten years, the number of temporary contracts has soared.

As many as 45 percent of teaching staff at Erasmus University (professors, associate professors, assistant professors and other academic staff with a teaching post, excluding PhD students) are on a temporary contract. In the past decade, the number of temporary contracts has rocketed, from 82 fte (17.7 percent) to 348 fte (45.3 percent). In the same period, the number of permanent contracts only grew from 381 to 420 fte.

In last year’s Collective Labour Agreement, agreements were made about reducing the number of temporary contracts at universities to 22 percent. Formally, Erasmus University complies with these agreements, because the agreements concern temporary contracts shorter than four years. For contracts longer than four years, for example for a tenure track, that 22 percent limit does not apply.

Read more about temporary contracts

• Erasmus University leads the field in temporary contracts