Annexes to COM(2008)317 - Better careers and more mobility: a european partnership for researchers - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2008)317 - Better careers and more mobility: a european partnership for researchers. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2008)317  |
| date | May 23, 2008 |
In addition, the circulation of researchers in relation to third countries could be facilitated by specific clauses in bilateral and multilateral agreements on social security between Member States and third countries , allowing for aggregation of periods, the possibility to remain subject to the home country social security regime for a certain period while working abroad and the exportation of benefits when they return to their home country.
Other issues arise because workers are increasingly relying on supplementary pension schemes in order to provide for their retirement. However, the conditions for acquisition, preservation and transfer of supplementary pension rights are often not well suited for mobile workers such as researchers. Extra efforts could be made for the provision of information specifically addressing researchers on the issue of supplementary pension rights.
A proposal for a directive covering the supplementary pension rights' portability is currently under negotiation. However this is unlikely to address the "transferability" of such rights. It is therefore desirable in the medium term to explore the feasibility of measures to ease transfer of supplementary pension rights for highly-mobile workers, including researchers.
Pension providers should be encouraged to open up pan-EU pension schemes targeted to researchers and companies should be encouraged to use pension providers in other EU Member States. This would allow mobile researchers to contribute to the same supplementary pension fund while working in different EU countries and still comply with the different social, labour and pension legislation in the participating Member States. This will require the possibility of opting out where researchers are obliged to participate in a domestic pension fund by law.
Proposed priority actions:
- Commission and Member States to ensure that researchers and their employers have access to readily available and targeted information on the application of EU social security rules and on the implications for supplementary pensions of transnational mobility, including through improving existing sources at EU and national level such as the EUlisses website[27]
- Member States to better utilise the existing legal framework and agree appropriate bilateral and multilateral agreements on derogations foreseen in Regulation 1408/71for the benefit of researchers
- Member States to include rules easing international mobility of researchers when concluding bilateral and multilateral social security agreements with third countries
- Commission and Member States to assess the need for a Commission or Council Recommendation on easing transfer of supplementary pension rights for highly-mobile workers, including researchers
- Commission and Member States to encourage pan-EU pension schemes targeted at researchers
Attractive employment and working conditions
Employment and working conditions are essential in determining the attractiveness of any career . As with other professions salary levels play a part in this, as does being able to balance professional and family life, but for researchers how academic performance is rewarded and having a supportive, professional environment where they can pursue their research interests from an early stage are at least as important.
Despite important ongoing reforms, compensation and promotion structures in many public research institutions remain rigid and often make it difficult, for universities in particular, to compete in the international market. In many Member States there is a two-tier workforce with short-term contracts for young researchers contrasting with little job to job mobility by senior researchers on permanent contracts . The common principles on "flexicurity"[28] recently adopted by the European Council following agreement by the social partners are therefore highly relevant to researchers.
Young researchers are often employed on temporary short-term contracts to help carry out specific research projects. This restricts the chances of talented researchers making the transition to becoming independent researchers. This can encourage some to seek advancement elsewhere and delays the emergence of the next-generation of research leaders. In particular young researchers are also frequently supplied with atypical forms of remuneration (e.g. stipends, fellowships) which give limited access to social security and supplementary pension benefits under the applicable national social security scheme.
In contrast senior researchers are often on permanent contracts with progression based on seniority rather than performance. This limits incentives to change career path, e.g. by working in another country or sector either full or part-time or carrying out consultancy work. These disincentives, and others such as loss of pension entitlements, also minimise the potential role of retired and end-of-career researchers . Many would otherwise be willing to contribute by e.g., mentoring younger scientists, providing expertise for policy making or promoting research careers.
Reconciling professional and private life is not always given enough priority by the majority of research institutions in the EU and women's careers in particular can suffer as a result. There is still a substantial imbalance in the proportion of women in the highest positions of research careers even though female doctoral candidates frequently outnumber male.
Significant variations exist between researchers' salary levels within the European Research Area and compared to other world regions even after costs of living are accounted for, and significant differences between the average salaries of male and female researchers. These differences distort the single labour market, and can contribute to researchers taking up better opportunities in other economic sectors or outside Europe.
Proposed priority actions:
- Member States, funders and employers to improve the career development opportunities for early-stage researchers by moving towards "flexicurity principles", regular evaluation, wider autonomy and better training; Research funders should take career development into account when evaluating research proposals
- Member States, funders and employers to progressively introduce more flexibility in contractual and administrative arrangements and relevant national legislation for senior and end-of career researchers to reward good performance and allow non-standard career paths;
- Employers and funders should ensure that all publicly funded researchers receiving stipends and fellowships can receive adequate social security coverage
- Member States and public research institutions to achieve adequate gender representation in selection and funding bodies, and to systematically adopt policies that enable both men and women to pursue a scientific career with an adequate work-life balance such as developing dual career policies
Enhancing the training, skills and experience of European researchers
Researchers need to be fully equipped with the skills necessary to participate in a range of roles in the modern knowledge economy. In particular, businesses increasingly thrive in an environment of 'open innovation' – where connections with each other and with public research institutions are used to explore ideas and develop products more effectively. Links between an excellent public research base and business are therefore vital . Science itself is also evolving, with more emphasis on multi and interdisciplinary research, competitive funding, international collaboration and converting research results into successful innovation .
But most researchers in Europe are still trained in a traditional academic setting . They often lack the skills and competences necessary to, for example, manage intellectual property, bid for project funding or set-up their own start up company. Researchers working for SMEs may find that they need to manage projects, handle the company's communications or manage intellectual property. Established researchers can also lose touch with the latest techniques and methods and may receive little support to expand their competences or skills as their career develops, e.g. into management positions within their institution.
The ongoing inter-governmental Bologna process is set to address some issues such as curricula development in doctoral programmes and quality assurance . Community measures such as the "initial training networks" under the Seventh Research Framework Programme , the proposed Joint Doctorates action in the Erasmus Mundus programme and the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) will also contribute.
But greater efforts on skills and life-long learning are needed at national level. Researchers need to be exposed to relevant experiences throughout their qualifying period and beyond . This will in turn help their career opportunities and ability to transfer between institutions, sectors and countries. This is only partly a matter of formal training. Creating the right environment will require changes in many institutions, e.g. building up their links with the private sector.
Proposed priority actions:
- Member States to develop and support consistent "national skills agendas" to ensure that researchers are equipped with the necessary skills to contribute fully to a knowledge-based economy and society throughout their careers
- Member States to ensure better links between academia and industry by supporting the placement of researchers in industry during their training and promoting industry financing of PhDs and involvement in curriculum development
IMPLEMENTING THE PARTNERSHIP
In order for the partnership to successfully contribute to the creation of a world class European research system each partner will need to fully contribute. It is therefore important that:
- Member States, Council and Commission commit themselves to the common objectives and endorse the proposed actions ;
- Member States adopt a national action plan by early 2009 setting out specific objectives and actions to achieve the aims of the partnership. Given the different starting positions of each Member State each plan is expected to focus on different aspects of the overall objectives of the partnership;
- the priority actions identified are implemented by the end of 2010;
- the Commission seeks to optimise existing Community instruments , including those available through the FP7 People programme, to reinforce the partnership;
- as an integral part of the partnership, Member States and the Commission:
- identify good practice and where appropriate develop common guidelines ;
- monitor progress at national and EU levels and report annually based on agreed indicators[29];
- make maximum use of the existing Community legal framework for the benefit of researchers;
- in line with its central role in the governance of ERA initiatives, the Competitiveness Council monitors and assesses progress in the implementation of the partnership actions;
- at the end of the first stage of the partnership in 2010 an overall evaluation of the situation and results from actions by the partnership is made and the need for further EU action to address specific outstanding issues is considered. The evaluation should fully incorporate the views of researchers themselves . A single contact point for researchers to notify the partnership of examples of good practice and ongoing difficulties should be considered as well as the organisation of a major conference in 2009 to provide a platform for researchers' views.
[1] Presidency Conclusions European Council 13-14 March 2008
[2] "A Single Market for the 21st Century Europe" COM(2007) 724
[3] The European Job Mobility Action Plan 2007-2010, COM(2007)773, 6.12.2007
[4] Including EU support to increase academic mobility and the planned EU initiative on new skills for new jobs
[5] "Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU" COM(2006) 502, 13.9.2006 and "A lead market initiative for Europe" COM(2007) 860, 21.12.2007
[6] COM(2007) 161, 4.4.2007
[7] Others related to: IP management by public research organisations; Joint programming; pan-European research infrastructures; international S&T cooperation
[8] Presidency Conclusions Lisbon European Council 23-24 March 2000
[9] "A mobility strategy for the European Research Area" COM (2001) 331, 20.06.2001
[10] "Researchers in the European Research Area: one profession, multiple careers" COM (2003) 436, 18.07.2003
[11] Including the Council Directive 2005/71/EC of 12 October 2005 on a specific procedure for admitting Third-country nationals for the purposes of scientific research ('Scientific visa') O.J. L 289/15 of 3.11.2005
[12] "Delivering on the modernisation agenda for universities: education, research and innovation." COM(2006) 208, 10.5.2006
[13] ERA-MORE and Researchers' Mobility Portal to be re-launched in June 2008 as the EURAXESS Researchers in Motion Network, for information on mobility, jobs and rights
[14] 0.56% in the EU as against 0.93% and 1.06%in the US and Japan; IISER II, European Commission 2007
[15] Europe in the global research landscape, European Commission 2007
[16] Full-time equivalent; IISER II, European Commission 2007
[17] Oswald and Ralsmark, 2008
[18] EU share of top 10 % most cited scientific publications is 37.5 % against a US share of 48.9 %. Only 8 of the 76 universities in the world with the highest citation impact are located in the EU; 67 are located in the US; Key Figures, European Commission 2007
[19] In 2000, 2% of persons employed in S&T occupations in the EU were of non-EU origin, while the share of foreign-born in US S&E jobs was 22%; "Key Figures" European Commission 2007
[20] In a number of countries over 40% of the highly qualified workforce is aged 45-64, while those aged 25-34 represent only about 25%; Key Figures, European Commission 2007
[21] COM (2003) 226 final of 30.04.2003
[22] Presidency Conclusions of 15-16 March 2002
[23] Heads of EU's national research funding and performing organisations
[24] European Employment Services network and website www.eures.europa.eu
[25] including statutory pension rights, healthcare, unemployment benefits
[26] Council Regulation (EC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, self-employed persons and their family members moving within the EU, and Implementing Regulation (EEC) 574/72
[27] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_security_schemes/eulisses/jetspeed/
[28] "Towards common principles of flexicurity – more and better jobs through flexibility and security", COM(2007)359
[29] Possible indicators are suggested in chapter 7 of the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document (SEC(2008)XXX)