Study slams high levels of fixed-term contracts

Fears abound that academics will leave without safer working conditions

More than one in three research and teaching professionals at Swedish universities are on temporary contracts—a rate far higher than that of the general working population, a study has warned.

Research by the Swedish University Chancellor’s Office UKÄ has shown that 34 per cent of academics do not hold a permanent position, compared with 17 per cent in the entire Swedish labour market. Temporary, fixed-term contracts often disproportionately affect young and low-skilled people, the study said, but in academia it is society’s most highly educated who suffer.