/Voorpagina /Mensen /Nieuws /Opinie /Cultuur /Studentenleven /Achtergrond /English page /Onderzoek /Reportage /Bestuur /Ruis /Harmpje /Colofon |
/Vacatures /Mensa /Oude cursors /pdf formaat /Faculteits Berichten /Zoeken /TUE |
jaargang 42, 16 maart 2000 English page |
AIO Overleg, the organisation for post-docs at TUE, are lobbying for better salaries and more academic career possibilities. They say TUE do not work hard enough to recruit promising young researchers, all the best people are taking jobs with commercial companies. “Many post-docs jobs would not be filled if it weren’t for foreign graduates, for whom salaries at TUE are still better than they could hope for at home,” says Mireille Reijme, of AIO Overleg.
“We all enjoy working with colleagues from other countries, but we think the fact that in the next few years more than half of the post-doc population will be foreign is a bad sign for Dutch science. So we don’t think there should be less foreign post-docs, but post-doc jobs should be made more attractive to Dutch graduates,” she continues. Other universities, like TU Delft are already doing this. A post-doc in Delft has a different title and receives 4000 guilders per month in salary from the outset. The initial salary at TUE comes to less than 2500 guilders.
70 % Stay One of the things AIO Overleg are afraid of is that much scientific knowledge will be lost when foreign post-docs return home. However, according to Marloes van Lierop of the Stan Ackerman Instituut, this may not be a realistic problem. She explains: “Last week we had a group of twenty people finish one of our two year courses. Ten of them were Dutch, ten of them were foreign. Eight foreigners had found jobs in the Netherlands. About 70% of foreign post-docs stay to work for Dutch companies. Many people from Eastern Europe want to stay on. Only the Chinese can’t accept jobs here, as their own government has made their return a condition for being able to travel abroad.”
Van Lierop is very pleased with the increase in foreign post-docs. “The international atmosphere is a real plus. But there are a few things that need adjusting. We want to spread the nationalities more across the courses, that’s important for successful integration. And the level of English language skills needs to improve. This also goes for many Dutch post-docs and even some Dutch teachers.” She says foreign post-docs are generally the brightest and most ‘adventurous’ people at their own universities and are extremely well-motivated. “It’s a big step to come here. Many foreign post-docs show more discipline and study skills than we are used to here.”
More Active Professor Rutger van Santen of the Chemical Technology department is also pleased with the foreign post-docs in his department. “One of my post-docs from Bulgaria is now supporting student free study hours. I have found that many foreign post-docs are good at supervising graduating students. My foreign post-docs have a very different work culture, they are more active than their Dutch counterparts.”
Negative Reacting to the AIO Overleg campaign for better career opportunities: “I’m quite surprised at their negative idea of their own future. We train people for top jobs out there in the world. Ninety per cent of our people leave the university, only a small group stays on for an academic career. In the future, there will not be enough highly educated technical people to fill the need in our society. I think we should be glad people want to come to the Netherlands from abroad to fill these positions. That’s the way America became a leading nation in science. And by the way, many Dutch graduates take jobs in the United States if they can.”
One of the things AIO Overleg would like to see improved in post-doc jobs is the quality of supervision. Supervisors don’t have enough time and there is not enough discussion about the work being done, says Mireille Reijme. “The good thing about our jobs is that we get much more freedom than we would if we worked for a commercial business. We ourselves formulate a research plan. This is great, but we could use more help with the framework. This is especially important to foreign post-docs who are more bound by the time limit of four years than we are because of visa regulations. People are often forced to finish their research sooner than they should.” “There are also quite a few post-docs who are working on their own. We should be able to visit more conferences and colleagues abroad if necessary. Travel funds have been disappearing with cost saving operations during the last few years,” Mireille Reijme continues. “This is also important to foreign post-docs who are more on their own than the rest of us. Some of them are so concentrated on work they are really living like slaves. Power structures in foreign universities are different and some people are scared to ask professors anything, or get into a discussion with them. We think debate is part of good research.”
New Members Wanted AIO Overleg is looking for more active members, and would welcome foreign post-docs who are interested. AIO Overleg protects post-doc interests and organises all kinds of work and leisure related activities./. |
The fact that ICT has irrevocably influenced the way people work is clear. Rathenau Instituut have now also researched possible improvements in working atmosphere due to ICT. The results of this study indicate that use of ICT often increases pressure at work. According to researchers, ICT saves time because the daily grind becomes more efficiently organised in many ways. At the same time, this time saving is rendered valueless because the time is immediately filled with other work. According to researchers, increased use of ICT does not lead to less or poorer quality of social contact with colleagues. E-mail is often used as an internal communications tool, for example to replace memos. Social contact in the workplace remains unaffected. It might even get better, as there is more time for social contacts because of ICT.
Career Advice
Construction of Knowledge Portal to Start this Year
The English page in Cursor is written by journalist Paula van de Riet. She can be reached at extension 4441. Email: engcur@stud.tue.nl |
On Thursday March 23, sports club All Terrain is planning an ‘Orientation Run’ around the Studenten Sport Centrum. Anyone interested is invited to take part in this run in the dark. In one hour, participants are expected to collect as many ‘points’ as possible in Eckartbos and around Karpendonseplas. The start is at 7 p.m. at the sports centre. You can run alone or with a friend. Participants will start three minutes apart, to prevent people following each other. Entry is free. You may enter up to one hour before the competition in the sports centre or by e-mail: www.run.to/all.terrain.
Lecture on Depleted Uranium
Better Use of Copyright
A booklet was published by ‘stichting SURF/IWI and is available from SURF. Phone: 030-2346600. E-mail: pietersen@surf.nl. |