Academics who succeed are ¡°not necessarily the most talented¡± but rather those most able to withstand universities¡¯ ¡°intolerable job structure¡±, a Nobel laureate has said.

Speaking at Times Higher Education¡¯s World Academic Summit, Brian Schmidt, vice-chancellor of the Australian National University and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011, said outstanding early career researchers were too often forced to leave academia by ¡°intolerable¡± demands on both their work and personal lives, rather than by an inability to do the job.

Professor Schmidt, a US-born astrophysicist who moved to the Canberra-based institution in 1994, which he has led since 2015, told a panel of senior university leaders that it was time to ¡°create an academic structure that fits the lives of people and does not require them to bounce around the world three or four times on a short-term contract¡±.

¡°The people who survive that are not necessarily the most talented people ¨C they are the people who have the willingness to put up with what is, quite frankly, an intolerable job structure,¡± Professor Schmidt told the audience at the summit, held at ETH Zurich, which has been addressing the theme ¡°how talent thrives¡±.

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Professor Schmidt said it was unrealistic to ask researchers to accept so much uncertainty in their early careers, with many gaining a sense of job security only in their early forties.

¡°We cannot expect people to wait to 42 to begin their career when, I¡¯m afraid, in my career, we¡¯ve all done our best work before the age of 40,¡± said Professor Schmidt.

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He explained that the career progression model in academia was obsolete, having ¡°evolved out [of] the 1960s and 1970s, when [the university sector] was growing and everyone had opportunities¡±.

In today¡¯s higher education environment, very few PhD students or even postdocs would secure a permanent academic post, even if they attended a world-class university, Professor Schmidt argued.

¡°Even from the very esteemed universities [represented] on this panel [at the summit], only one in 10 [early career researchers is] going to end up in an academic position, and yet our professoriate makes it clear that you are a failure if you are not one of the one in 10,¡± he said. ¡°That needs to stop,¡± he added.

Professor Schmidt said that universities should instead be more honest about researchers¡¯ long-term career prospects and stress that leaving academia does not constitute failure if individuals secure good employment that makes use of their research skills.

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¡°I am trying to come to [a] pact [with researchers] where the deal is¡­give people a three- to five-year start early on¡­but then it is, sort of, up or out,¡± said Professor Schmidt, who stressed that ¡°out is not bad, out is great, but [also] have the [opportunity] for people to come in later in life¡±.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com