ABSTRACT

Market rationality, neoliberal approaches and ever-increasing productivity objectives are widespread in higher education discourse and practice. Academic employment has become more uncertain as scholars are more commonly employed on non-tenured, fixed-term contracts. Research shows the resulting detrimental impact on staff well-being and health, which has led some universities to engage in policy initiatives aimed to counter the unwanted effects. Departing from an institutional logic perspective, this contribution investigates the new career policy for contractual scientific staff of a Flemish university. Effective since 2019, it mandates the switch to contracts of indefinite duration and supplementary pension rights for specific contractual scientific staff categories. An in-depth analysis of its implementation unveils its potential (un)intended ramifications – e.g., the perpetuation of employees’ job uncertainty, avoidance strategies, increasing detrimental pressures on research managers, tensions among research groups’ members, and changes in the recruitment process criteria.

摘要

市场理性、新自由主义方法和不断提高的生产力目标在高等教育的话语和实践中很普遍。学术就业变得更加不确定，因为学者更常受雇于非终身、固定期限的合同。研究表明，由此产生的对员工福祉和健康的不利影响已导致一些大学采取旨在应对不利影响的政策举措。从制度逻辑的角度出发，这篇文章调查了佛兰芒大学合同科学人员的新职业政策。自 2019 年起生效，它要求特定合同科学人员类别转为无限期合同和补充养老金权利。