Abstract
This chapter examines the employment situation in the entry phase of the academic career and the respective changes in subsequent career stages across Europe. We compare career trajectories and the current career situation of academics in senior and junior positions according to type of higher education institution. Academic career paths differ due to varying national contexts based on far-reaching changes and reforms. Careers also differ in many other respects, including duration and phases of formation, connected academic qualification steps and the legal conditions for employment. The empirical analyses focus on the questions: What kinds of profile have those working in higher education under these changed conditions? Which career trajectories do they follow? How much does the employment situation actually vary between senior and junior academics?
In several countries, measures to increase the flexibility and to reduce financial liability of universities make it difficult for academics to achieve permanent full-time appointments. However, the professoriate still represents a highly attractive position. In many countries, the employment conditions of junior academics especially at universities are not very satisfying. In some countries, the annual earnings of junior academics are only slightly above the ‘at-risk-of-poverty’ level. This is not only true for the employment situation of academics at universities. The situation of academics at other institutions of higher education is more similar than one tends to assume.
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Notes
- 1.
In the EUROAC survey, disciplines were clustered in ten groups: ‘Teacher training and education science’; ‘Humanities and arts’; ‘Social and behavioural sciences’; ‘Business and administration, economics’; ‘Law’; ‘Life sciences’; ‘Physical sciences, mathematics, computer sciences’; ‘Engineering, manufacturing and construction, architecture’; ‘Agriculture’; and ‘Medical sciences, health related sciences, social services’. For ease of reading, only the first discipline of each cluster is mentioned in the text, for example, ‘Teacher training’ stands for ‘Teacher training and education science’.
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Ates, G., Brechelmacher, A. (2013). Academic Career Paths. In: Teichler, U., Höhle, E. (eds) The Work Situation of the Academic Profession in Europe: Findings of a Survey in Twelve Countries. The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5977-0_2
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