Dual career couples in academia, international mobility and dual career services in Europe

The number of dual career couples in academia is growing due to the increasing proportion of women with a doctoral degree and the greater propensity of women to choose another academic as their partner. At the same time, international mobility is required for career advancement in academia creating challenges for dual career couples where both partners pursue careers. This paper has two objectives: a) to raise the increasingly important issue of dual career couples in academia and the gendered effect that the pressure for mobility has on career advancement and work-life interference, and b) to present examples of recently established dual career services of higher education institutions in Germany, Denmark and Switzerland, responding to the needs of the growing population of dual career couples. Due to long established practices of dual career services in the US, the European examples will be compared with US practices. This paper raises the significance of considering dual career couples in institutional policies that aim for an internationally excellent and diversified academic workforce. It will appraise dual career services according to whether they reinforce or address gender inequalities and provide recommendations to HEIs interested in developing services and programmes for dual career couples

Beyond the PhD: the significance of boundaries in the early careers of highly qualified Greek scientists and engineers

Higher education and research have come to the forefront of international debate about economic growth highlighting the significance of doctoral education for fostering innovation and international competitiveness. Currently, there is limited information about doctoral graduates in Greece from both a demand and supply side. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the early career paths of Greek doctoral graduates in natural sciences and engineering educated in Greece and the UK, and how they are deployed in the labour market. This study is informed by the debate on human capital and its links to productivity and growth, social capital influences, career theories and the existing evidence on highly skilled migration. A mixed methods approach was adopted to deliver new quantitative and qualitative data and enable the understanding of complex phenomena, such as careers. An online survey of Greek PhD graduates was complemented by followup interviews with a sub-sample, to explore their perceptions of doctoral education and its outcomes. The career trajectories of Greek doctorate holders, together with individual and contextual determinants that shape career choices are presented. Within this investigation, the effect of country of doctoral study, and doctoral education experience are also explored. Emphasis is given to disciplinary labour markets in relation to engineering and biological sciences and the academic system in Greece as contextual considerations that influence career choices. This information is extended by a small number of interviews with Greek based non-academic employers, contributing to a better understanding of their views, informing both the PhD graduates and employers’ (mis)perceptions regarding doctoral education and its value beyond academia. Overall, it will be concluded that Greek PhD graduates are under-utilised in the Greek labour market raising concerns about educational investment and potential brain drain under the current economic crisis in Greece

The Intra-European transferability of graduates’ skills gained in the UK

Mobility has been seen as the hallmark of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) with student and graduate mobility being promoted and facilitated through the Bologna process. This paper follows the experiences of twelve UK educated mobile graduates of British and other European Union (EU) nationality and analyses both their skills gained by studying at a UK higher education institution and the obstacles they experienced to transfer their UK qualification to a different country. We demonstrate that graduates not only developed – as part of their course and within the opportunities that the UK higher education environment offers – but also used various skills ranging from subject specific to language and generic skills in their current activities. While a UK degree is reputable and well known in other European countries, there seem to be limitations in relation to its transferability and recognition for studying and working beyond the UK which contribute to unequal treatment in the local labour market between domestic and foreign educated graduates. More than a decade after the inception of the Bologna process and the introduction of tools to facilitate mobility, structural barriers still exist which prevent the smooth recognition of skills and qualifications of mobile students and graduates within the EU. This has implications for further study and employment outcomes for mobile graduates but also for mobility decisions before and after higher education

Life after higher education : the diversity of opportunities and obstacles in a changing graduate labour market

From the latter part of the twentieth century and onwards progressively rapid industrial restructuring, technological change and globalization have changed the parameters of employment. Governments’ assessments of the skills required for economic growth and development have driven higher education investment and expansion policies in the UK, as they have internationally. Looking across OECD countries, it has recently been estimated that an average of 40 per cent of young adults are likely to complete undergraduate (tertiary Type-A) education during their lifetime, with graduation rates in European countries ranging from half or more in Finland, Iceland, Poland and Russia to less than a quarter in Belgium, Greece, Estonia (OECD, 2014). Higher education (HE) has become a global industry – part of the ‘knowledge economy’ that it serves – and this is reflected in increasing education-led migration and mobility – both of EU and overseas students to study in UK and of UK students to study overseas

Stickiness in academic career immobilities of STEM early career researchers: An insight from Greece

Academic and policy discourse has idealised academic mobility despite studies showing that it can have adverse effects on individuals ‘experiences and contribute towards exacerbating existing inequalities. Contrary to this idealisation, this paper shows how that long term (more than a year) academic mobility at the early career paths of STEM researchers entails challenges, frictions and emotional tensions as part of the decision making irrespective if they decide to move or remain within their home country. The concept of stickiness is used highlight the often-understated tensions of academic career (im)mobilities. Moreover, it emphasises the complexity, the affective considerations and the tensions in how (im)mobilities are determined and experienced in early career researchers’ accounts and allows investigating the intersection and co-construction of individual and contextual considerations in academic mobilities and careers. This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, as part of a mixed methods study of Greek researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). It thus focuses on a largely underexamined population and context, Greek STEM early career researchers and compares individuals with international mobility experience and those who remained in Greece during their early career

Moderate feminism within or against the neoliberal university? The example of Athena SWAN

This article argues that gender equality programmes in universities and colleges may operate as a form of ‘moderate feminism’, producing contradictions through simultaneously providing a site of resistance and complicity for feminists. Our argument draws on a critical and empirical analysis of the Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) charter mark, which originated in the UK. We argue that Athena SWAN is a product of neoliberalization within the UK's academic environments, reflecting the tendency towards accountability, metrics and the performative ‘doing’ of equality work within this context. We problematize the operationalization and implementation of Athena SWAN processes in departments and universities, describing contradictions and caveats. Athena SWAN can lead to benefits and (limited) achievements in terms of culture change and institutional initiatives. However, the burden of undertaking this work predominantly falls upon women and other marginalized groups, such as people of colour and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Equality programmes such as Athena SWAN are often poorly designed to address complex issues, such as intersectional identities and discrimination experienced by self‐assessment team members. Nevertheless, we identify potential in utilizing Athena SWAN as a site of resistance and means to foster collective solidarity to work against neoliberal practices

The (non)instrumental character of unpaid internships: implications for regulating internships

This groundbreaking book examines the growing phenomenon of internships and the policy issues they raise, during a time when internships or traineeships have become an important way of transitioning from education into paid work

The spinout journey: Barriers and enablers to gender inclusive innovation. Summary report

This research is part of a wider project, funded by the EPSRC’s Inclusion Matters initiative, looking at the participation of women scientists, engineers and mathematicians in university spinout companies. As highlighted in our previous report, only 13% of spinout companies across the whole of the UK have a woman founder (Griffiths and Humbert, 2019). This cannot be solely attributed to the underrepresentation of women in professorial roles in STEM disciplines. As this study shows, researchers may spinout at different stages of their careers and the majority of spinout founders in our sample could be classed as early- or mid-career academics. This research charts founders’ spinout journeys from the early days of establishing the company through to developing the spinout and reflecting upon challenges and successes. It compares the experiences of women and men academic founders to better understand where women may be encountering gender bias and have to overcome additional challenges. This approach has enriched empirical knowledge around women’s experiences of academic entrepreneurship but also highlighted areas for development that would enhance and improve the spinout experience for all founders. This report cannot provide a blueprint model for institutions on spinouts but offers recommendations that institutions should consider if they aspire to create an inclusive environment to support academic entrepreneurial activities and to develop a more gender inclusive innovation ecosystem

Inclusive universities in a globalised world

This thematic issue of Social Inclusion focuses on universities as inclusive organisations in a variety of different countries and higher education (HE) systems. It explores how these institutions aim, succeed or fail to become inclusive organisations, what policies and processes help achieve these goals and how academics and students can become agents of change through inclusive teaching and research cultures. The contributions in this thematic issue point to the multi‐level as well as multi‐faceted challenges and characteristics of inclusion in HE in general and in universities in particular, based on both student and academic points of view. They offer innovative conceptual ways of thinking as well as measuring inclusion. Further, they point out the importance of context in understanding the challenges of achieving equality and inclusion in universities through country‐specific as well as cross‐country comparisons of various aspects of diversity and inclusivity. We hope this thematic issue will inspire theoretical thinking, support practitioners and encourage policy‐making about more responsible ways of defining and fostering inclusive universities in a globalised world