Academic Careers andPromotions in Finland and Austria: System andInstitutional Perspectives

Abstract

Historically, academic careers in many European universities have been characterized by the civil servant status of academics (i.e., an open vacancy model) based on the German Lehrstuhl (professorial chair) tradition. The chair system has been abandoned in many countries, and the status of civil servants has been changed to private employment. At the same time, many European universities have introduced some variant of the tenure track model to increase the attractiveness of academic careers at their institutions; however, open vacancy models continue to dominate academic careers in Europe. This chapter describes recent changes in academic promotion systems using case examples from tenure track models in two European countries, Finland and Austria. In conclusion, this chapter offers examples based on the best practices and challenges identified in the analyzed tenure track models.

Citation

Kivistö, J., Pekkola, E. and Pausits, A. (2019), "Academic Careers andPromotions in Finland and Austria: System andInstitutional Perspectives", Mahat, M. and Tatebe, J. (Ed.) Achieving Academic Promotion (Surviving and Thriving in Academia), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-899-020191009