The universities do not have enough openings to permanently employ the thousands of postdoctoral students after their temporary employment. Almost half (45 percent) of the questioned postdoctoral students have already been through one or more postdoctoral contracts, a quarter of them even more than three. That is twice as much as last year.
According to the researchers they would be better off applying for a job elsewhere. However, most interviewees prefer to stay within the university. They massively prefer a new temporary appointment over a career outside of the university.
A minority of them might still be rewarded for their loyalty. The ageing problem that has been plaguing universities for years is still continuing. In 2001 over thirty percent of the university employees were over the age of fifty and many of them will retire in the coming years. This could cause staffing problems as soon as this year, which could worsen to 2900 unfulfilled places in 2008.
The researchers are optimistic about the number of PhD students. Their number appears to remain stable regardless of the many ominous reports on the alleged inability of universities to bind young scientific talent. There are however an increasing number of East-European PhD students.
The position of women at universities is still bad. By now a small majority of students is female, but the higher on the career ladder you look, the fewer women you will find. The universities of Amsterdam (UvA), Nijmegen (KUN) and Leiden, where ten percent of all professors are female, do best by comparison. In the University of Eindhoven (TU/e) there are 61 male professors for each female professor.
