Debate has been revived in?France about the respective roles of?institute researchers and university academics, with the former¡¯s lack of?formal teaching obligations under scrutiny as?sector leaders warn of a?¡°grim¡± financial future for higher education and science.

Writing in Le?Monde, institutions such as the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) should be?examined before they ¡°[demand] additional resources¡±. He?contended that CNRS researchers should be?given teaching obligations, describing the current system as an?¡°institutional anomaly¡±. Arguing that academic freedom was ¡°paid?for¡± with teaching, Professor Foray said this exchange ¡°is?the fundamental contract of?the academic with society¡±.

¡°The CNRS researcher behaves like a professor without being subject to the same obligations ¨C having [their] cake and eating it too,¡± he wrote. Professor Foray pointed to the by the High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hc¨¦res), which recommends ¡°encouraging CNRS researchers and engineers to contribute to?education¡±.

But in a joint response also published in Le?Monde, Professor Foray¡¯s article displayed ¡°a?profound lack of understanding of the French system and the complementarity it implements by linking training and research¡±. While researchers do?not have a?¡°statutory obligation¡± to teach, they wrote, they do participate in teaching activities, including supervising internships and doctorates, monitoring committees and organising seminars.

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At present, teacher-researchers in universities must fulfil a yearly teaching load of 192?hours. As the Hc¨¦res report notes, however, CNRS researchers also teach in universities and grandes ¨¦coles ¡°on a?voluntary basis¡±, with ¡°more than 180,000 hours of teaching¡­provided each year by approximately 6,000 CNRS researchers¡±.

In their Le?Monde article, the group of researchers criticised Professor Foray for attempting ¡°to?pit university teacher-researchers against CNRS researchers, explaining to the former that their difficulties are linked to the alleged privileges of the latter¡±.

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Olivier Coutard, a CNRS researcher and one of the signatories of the response letter, told Times Higher Education that while many CNRS scholars did teach, this ¡°would?not solve the difficulties of French universities¡± because the 11,000-strong workforce would?not fill the 24,000 full-time equivalent teaching jobs now fulfilled by non-permanent university staff.

¡°Imposing teaching obligations on CNRS researchers would certainly reduce the attractiveness of CNRS positions ¨C at?least internationally ¨C while probably not significantly improving the working conditions of university academics,¡± said Dr?Coutard, who chairs the CNRS scientific board but was speaking in a personal capacity.

¡°The real issue is underinvestment in French universities, aggravated by rampant bureaucratisation and constant organisational reform.¡±

John Ludden, a former CNRS director who is now retired, told THE that there was an ongoing discussion in?the French sector ¡°around making the system more flexible, with CNRS researchers doing teaching and the academics being liberated to do more research work when appropriate¡±.

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Potential reform, he said, could see the CNRS ¡°becoming a?research project and infrastructure funder, and the CNRS targeting funding to some universities¡±.

Speaking to THE, Andr¨¦e Sursock, a senior adviser at the European University Association (EUA), suggested that giving researchers teaching obligations could benefit their own work as well as university academics and students.

¡°Classroom teaching is an opportunity to review one¡¯s thinking about one¡¯s research and refine it,¡± she said. ¡°Students are not just containers to pour knowledge into. One can work with them and have discussions that could change one¡¯s thinking.¡±

¡°Right now, the teaching load of academic staff is significant,¡± Dr Sursock continued. ¡°If more people had the opportunity to teach, then it would be a fairer way of distributing the load.¡± Employing researchers to teach undergraduates would also provide ¡°an opportunity for students to be exposed to state-of-the-art research¡±, she added.

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emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com