The Academic Profession

NUMBER 52, SUMMER 2008

Research Careers: Some Reflections from Europe

Ulrich Teichler and Harald Schomburg
Ulrich Teichler is professor at the International Centre for Higher Education Research, University of Kassel, 34109 Kassel, Germany. E-mail: teichler@incher.uni-kassel.de. Harald Schomburg is a researcher at the International Centre for Higher Education Research. E-mail: schomburg@incher.uni-kassel.de.

In Europe, extension in the number of researchers and improvement of research quality are widely seen as necessary to cope with the challenges expressed by the terms "knowledge society" and "knowledge economy." In this framework, considerable attention is paid across Europe to the formative years of scholars—the career period between graduation from a university and the eventual appointment to a senior, supervisory position at a higher education or research institution.

A Lifelong Career?
In Europe, as in other parts of the world, the percentage of young persons embarking on research activities after graduation substantially exceeds the percentage of persons still active in research before retirement.

A degree from an institution of higher education is usually viewed as the entry qualification for a career as a researcher. Thus, follow-up studies of graduates from higher education institutions can provide information about the proportion of those embarking on the first stage of a research career. The Careers after Higher Education: A European Research Study, a survey of 1994/95 graduates from 11 European countries and Japan about four years later, provides the best comparative database on this topic: 22 percent of graduates from higher education institutions in the 12 countries continued with further academic studies; 28 percent of all graduates were working as researchers four years after graduation; the percentage of researchers ranged from 23 percent (Netherlands) to 37 percent (Germany); 59 percent of all graduates in science and technology fields were working as researchers four years after graduation.

The German Microcensus provides relevant data on the percentage of higher education graduates professionally active in research at later stages of their careers: in 2004, 29 percent of the 35-39 age group, 27 percent of the 40-44 age group, 24 percent of the 45-49 age group, 20 percent of the 50-54 age group, 18 percent of the 55-59 age group, and 13 percent of the 60-64 age group. Among graduates in science and engineering fields, 53 percent are active in research of the 35-39 age group, but this proportion shrinks annually by about one percent to 25 percent in the 60-64 age group. Thus, the data reveal an amazingly regular process of decline in the proportion of researchers among the highly trained persons during the course of their professional career.

Mobility
Among researchers, mobility is thought to be increasing rapidly. Data regarding foreign researchers are often used to examine this hypothesis. Actually, Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Communities) data suggest that 5.0 percent of the trained research personnel in the European Union in 2000 were foreigners. This ratio only increased to 5.3 percent in 2005. In Germany, for example, a more substantial increase is noted—from 5.1 to 6.4 percent—during the same period.

Data merely on foreigners, however, become less useful as more people become internationally mobile during various points in their lives. This trend was revealed in a study comparing the statistics of foreign students and of mobile students, the latter defined either by education prior to study or by the residence prior to study (Maria Kelo, Ulrich Teichler, and Bernd Wächter, eds. Eurodata: Student Mobility in European Higher Education. Bonn: Lemmons, 2006). This study showed, for example, that in 2003, (1) 8.5 percent of students in German higher education were foreigners who came to study, (2) 3.4 percent were foreign students already in Germany prior to study, and (3) 1.5 percent were mobile German students who returned to Germany for the purpose of study.

These three student mobility figures were somewhat higher in the United Kingdom (13.0%, 4.6%, and 0.6%) and even higher in Switzerland (14.1%, 5.3%, and 2.0%). The overall magnitude of mobility is not revealed through data at a certain point. Rather, a retrospective analysis is required to determine how many persons were mobile for a certain period (e.g., at a certain career stage). Again, more detailed data exist on the mobility of students than of researchers. Based on general student statistics, in 2003 the number of German students studying abroad represented about 3.5 percent of all German students. A survey undertaken of German students in Germany shortly before graduation, however, showed that 15 percent of them had spent a period studying in another country. This discrepancy can be explained in part by the fact that, for example, a student studying abroad one of the four years may be registered once as a foreign student and three times as a home student. In addition, temporarily mobile students are not included in the regular student statistics of many countries.

A survey published in 2001 showed that about 10 percent of Germans being awarded a doctoral degree spent some time abroad within the subsequent 10 years. We have reasons to assume that this proportion has increased in recent years.

Career Risks
Research careers are highly selective at higher education institutions. As a rule, only a small proportion of young scholars entering an academic career eventually will become senior academics (professors, in general), while most others will not remain as scholars in higher education. In many European countries, scholars not only run the risk of a small success rate but also have to spend many years on a short-term contract while most other professionals from the same age cohort already enjoy stable employment conditions. A study on academic careers in a number of European countries shows that employment conditions and career patterns for young academics vary substantially by country. However, short-term employment until about the age of 40 and high levels of selectivity are common in many countries.

In some European countries, the situation of young academics is often deplored with the claim that the employment of young academics in the United States was far more favorable. For example, a further brain drain to the United States was anticipated by Germans if the employment conditions in Germany were not improved. A recent study, however, concluded that career conditions for young academics in Germany were not as unfavorable in comparison to the United States as public rumors suggest.

The majority of the doctoral candidates at German universities are employed by their university at least on a part-time temporary contract, and doctoral candidates have better chances than US doctoral candidates to fund their doctoral work with the help of the university or fellowships. The period from a doctoral degree to a professorial position in Germany (8 years, on average, from age 33 to 41) is similar to the period from a doctoral degree to the appointment as associate professor in the United States (most likely 7 years, from age 33 to 40). More than 30 percent of academics with a doctoral degree employed at a German higher education institution have an indeterminate work contract, but less than 10 percent of US assistant professors have such a status. Salaries at German institutions of higher education at all levels are on average slightly higher than at US universities.

The study shows, in addition, that about one-tenth of graduates from German institutions of higher education will eventually be awarded a doctorate, and about one-tenth of those awarded a doctorate eventually will become a professor. In the United States as well, one of about 100 graduates will become a professor, but the levels of selection are different: one out of about 20 students will be a awarded a PhD, while one-fifth of the PhD holders eventually will become associate or full professors.

[Online] Available: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/Number52/p7_Teichler_Schomburg.htm