{"id":72011,"date":"2017-05-30T15:50:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T13:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2017\/05\/30\/tijdelijke-contracten-in-de-wetenschap-een-complete-mess\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:47","slug":"tijdelijke-contracten-in-de-wetenschap-een-complete-mess-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/05\/30\/tijdelijke-contracten-in-de-wetenschap-een-complete-mess-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixed-term contracts in academics are a \u2018complete mess\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEsther Dijkstra<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Those looking for a stable career are better off casting their nets outside of academics. This particularly applies to postdoctoral researchers, for whom permanent posts are becoming increasingly scarcer. What\u2019s the deal with all these fixed-term contracts, and how detrimental are they? \u201cBarring professional football, academics has the most people working on a temporary basis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Steven de Rooij has officially been a scholar since 2008, and since then has only had fixed-term contracts. He\u2019s currently attached to Leiden University as a postdoc, where he\u2019s undertaking statistical research, presently with a three-year contract. When he completed his master degree in theoretical computer science at Amsterdam University fourteen years ago he had a decision to make: to obtain a doctorate or not?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time my professor said: you have to give this some proper thought. If you want a guaranteed stable job, then I wouldn\u2019t recommend it,\u201d recalls De Rooij. That advice took him aback, but he nonetheless opted for the promotion. \u201cI was very keen on research. I wasn\u2019t concerned about the rest of my career, so I set out with a positive mindset.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Competition<\/h3>

Nine years and four temporary postdoc jobs later \u2013 including at Eindhoven University of Technology and the Amsterdam Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) \u2013De Rooij appreciates where his professor was coming from. \u201cIn hindsight, I must say he was right. The number of permanent posts is scarce and the competition is immense.\u201d What his next step will be after his present contract has ended, De Rooij doesn\u2019t know yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the same, he believes a permanent post in academics is no longer an option. \u201cOver the last few years I\u2019ve applied a couple of times for positions such as university lecturer, but only ten are selected from the hundreds of applicants, applicants who have numerous published publications, and a great deal of international experience to boot.\u201d Apart from two years at Cambridge, he has no further international research on his CV, which is impeding his chances of a permanent post.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVSNU<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t

\n\t\t

At Eindhoven University of Technology, more than half of the scholars have a flexi contract, and Erasmus University Rotterdam, similarly, stands at fifty percent. The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Tilburg score much lower.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson reveals that at Eindhoven University of Technology it\u2019s rising rapidly. Which is why many lecturers are joining, all of whom start off with a fixed four-year term contract. On the proviso they develop well, they have \u201ca chance of a permanent post\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, of old the TU\/e employs many toios: trainee technology designers. Just as doctoral candidates, they all have a temporary appointment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erasmus University puts the high number of temporary lecturers down to its problem-based learning, where students work in small tutorials. This in turn necessitates many tutors. \u201cIn light of fluctuating student numbers, temporary appointments apply to those tutors.\u201d If you leave those tutors aside, a mere eighteen percent are employed on a temporary basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both universities say they adhere to the collective labour agreements that must ensure fewer lecturers are in temporary employment. Contracts exceeding four years are not included in those agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

De Rooij does find his uncertain situation awkward, but isn\u2019t stressed out by it. \u201cI\u2019m quite a relaxed person at heart, but that said, it isn\u2019t ideal. It\u2019s hard to make ground, socially too. You arrive at a university where colleagues join you, but then soon leave. So you don\u2019t tend to invest in such contacts, which makes things rather lonely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am, I admit, a bit disappointed in academics. My father, an emeritus professor of history, determined my expectations. If you did your work well and made the right contacts \u2013 he decreed \u2013 then a nice appointment would naturally follow at a given point, just as night follows day. But evidently that was rather a different era.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Uncertainty<\/h3>

According to the Scientists\u2019 Union (VAWO), it illustrates the situation in which an increasing number of young scholars find themselves. The VAWO has disputed flexi jobs at universities for a while now. According to chairwoman Marijtje Jongsma, the percentage of \u2018flexi scholars\u2019, including doctoral candidates, currently stands at around sixty percent, with all the corresponding consequences this entails: incapacity for work is poorly covered by social security, gaps arise in one\u2019s pension accrual, and large numbers of graduates live with uncertainty. And,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>last but not least, it\u2019s detrimental to academics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The VAWO receives a great deal of complaints about this and exerts pressure on universities to create more job security. \u201cAs a scholar it takes you years to develop into an expert within your area of expertise. After that you don\u2019t want to be a \u2018disposable scholar\u2019, but simply to enjoy a permanent post.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n