Union Criticizes “Blight” of Fixed-Term Academic Posts
The University and College Union (UCU) attacked employers recently for “blighting” UK higher education by putting the majority of new staff on temporary contracts, five years after new regulations were agreed, designed to make more jobs permanent.
A UCU survey of research jobs in UK universities shows that short-term contracts remain the norm for staff beginning their careers–96.5 percent of the posts were found to be fixed-term.
University employers would argue that they can only take on research staff when they have funding for a particular project. When that money runs out, they can no longer afford to keep staff on.
But the findings contradict guidance agreed in 2002 by the employers’ body, the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), and trade unions, which stated that “indefinite contracts should be the normal form of employment.”
The survey forms part of a new report from UCU, Fixed-term: the scandal continues, which shows that overall more than two-thirds of academics (70 percent) are still put on fixed-term contracts when they start employment.
The report looked at all academic appointments in 2005 (the latest statistics available) and researcher jobs recently advertised on the academic jobs website jobs.ac.uk
It shows just 3.5 percent of university research jobs advertised on the website on November 7 and 8, 2007, were permanent posts. Nearly all (97 percent) of research-only academics starting continuous employment were employed on fixed-term contracts, and nine institutions put all new starters on fixed-term arrangements.
For teaching-only academics starting continuous employment, 72 percent were employed on fixed-term contracts and 15 institutions put all new teaching-only staff on these contracts in 2005.
For teaching and research posts, 32 percent of academics starting continuous employment were employed on fixed-term contracts.
The report labels the University of Brighton as the worst offender, with 81 percent of teaching and research academics starting in 2005 on a fixed-term contract.
Nottingham Trent (80 percent) Southampton Solent (78 percent)Lancaster (63 percent) Cambridge (59 percent), Ulster (58 percent) and Cardiff (51 percent) universities all had more than 50 percent of teaching and research academics starting on a fixed-term contract.
According to UCU, the majority of UK universities are continuing to use temporary contracts as the default position for most vacancies and new posts. This is despite new regulations–the Fixed term employees (prevention of less favorable treatment) regulations introduced in 2002–designed to reduce the use of fixed-term contracts.
Employees who have had their contract renewed or who are on at least their second contract and have four years’ service can regard their posts as permanent, which means that staff who have been employed since July 2002 should have seen their contracts made permanent in July 2006.
The general secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, said: “It is a source of great shame for UK higher education that only the hotel and catering sector employs a greater percentage of staff on temporary contracts. The widespread use of fixed-term contracts is the unacceptable underbelly of higher education in this country.”
She said the “best brains in Britain” were being held in positions of insecurity.
“The UK needs to attract the best academics in both research and teaching if it is to continue to compete internationally, yet our universities’ employment policies mean that the majority of those now starting out on an academic career still face instability and uncertainty.
“This report is an appalling indictment of UK universities and they must do more to end the blight of a casualization culture, which is damaging both to those who suffer it and to our reputation at home and abroad.”
UCEA, however, said the findings were out of date.
A spokesman said: “The UCU refers to the 2002 guidance for employers in higher education… regulations did not come into effect until 2006, while UCU then quotes data for 2005. The figures exclude the impact of full implementation of the framework agreement, with Higher Education Institutions reducing the proportion of hourly paid lecturing staff on fixed-term contracts.”
He said research funding was usually for fixed periods and institutions had a responsibility to inform staff that their employment is dependent on winning new funding.
“It is also important to remember that fixed period contact figures include part-time teaching staff, staff who teach one course, or provide one or two lectures a week, and require the flexibility to combine their post with additional posts or responsibilities elsewhere.”
The majority of research assistants move out of academe at the end of their fixed term post, or posts if they apply for a second, he added. “A truer view of the ‘career entry point’ would be to look at those starting their first lecturer post,” he explained. “The vast majority of full-time staff are on permanent contracts (92 percent). In addition to the UUK report explaining that this UCU analysis is in need of review, a UCEA survey on recruitment and retention showed that only a small number of HEIs–around a fifth–thought that fixed-term contracts affected their recruitment and retention of staff,” he said.
