More and more temporary contracts for scientists

More and more scientists at Dutch Universities hold temporary appointments. Since 1995, the percentage of scientists with temporary appointments has almost doubled: from 22,8 percent to 40,7 percent (end 2012). Moreover, the majority of all female scientists (52,9 percent) holds a temporary appointment. This is the result of a study conducted by the VAWO, union for scientific staff.

The VAWO says it’s worrying that more and more employees, who are responsible for education and research, hold temporary appointments. “University governors explain the rise in the number of temporary appointments by the rise in the number of PhD students (from over 3000 in 1999 to almost 9000 at present). However, this isn’t the case. In our study PhD graduates weren’t taken into account,” says the VAWO. If PhD graduates were taken into account, over 60 percent of all scientific staff would hold temporary appointments.

According to the union, University governors often use the argument that there needs to be a flexible layer to absorb any fluctuations in the number of students and the amount of funding. “No one will deny that a certain degree of flexibility is required, but the Universities are shifting this entirely onto the scientific staff: compared to the 40,7 percent of temporary contracts for 15040 FTE for all scientific staff there are just 13,1 percent of temporary contracts for 17041 FTE for all other staff.”