Precarious Working Conditions For Academics At Universities

The profession of a scientist is widely recognized and usually perceived as a responsible and legitimate one as it requires a lot of dedication for the achievement of the desired scientific goals that are also expected to be in favor of society. The road to becoming a successful scientist in any field is certainly quite hard. It calls for years of commitment, time, energy and strong discipline. Many of the young people who decide to take this path share the same motivation, namely passion and curiosity, which are usually developed from a very young age. Such a lifelong interest in science and thirst for intellectual challenges make this profession even more valuable and a big task for those who strive to achieve it.

Yet, once at this stage of their lives many scientists fail to succeed due to the lack of good working conditions at German universities. The mismatch between supply and demand has become one of the key problems for qualified scientists these days. Although this issue has been raised already to the government’s attention, a stable solution has not yet been found. What makes scientists consider their working conditions as being miserable? What actions have researches recently been taking to raise awareness of this problem? How is the government and the responsible ministries addressing the issue? Read along to learn more about the employment debate in science.

Throughout the past years many scientists and employees in technology and administration at German universities rated their working conditions as miserable. According to a report by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB – Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) the education sector offers worse working conditions than any other public sector in the country. Nearly 80% of the people who were surveyed for this report stated that they felt exploited by the system. With this problem steering for so many years without any visible improvements, German science can face some fatal consequences.   

The problem in particular arises from the lack of permanent contracts for certain academic and non-academic employees at German universities. In the past twelve years scientists and employees in technology and administration have stated many times that they are mostly employed with fix-term contacts. Most of the latter are with a duration of less than a year. With short-term contracts and temporary positions, the majority of the academic staff have sought for other employment opportunities in addition to the ones they already had. This has resulted in young scientists having to work on three or more jobs in order to make ends meet. What is more, over three quarters of academic employees have reported that they are working an average of ten hours overtime per week. Uncertain planning, excessive amount of work with insufficient remuneration, and miserable working conditions have taken away the motivation of many scientific employees and caused tensions between them, universities and the responsible authorities.

Permanent positions, however, don’t seem to be the only issue here. The pressure for performance on the part of employers has also contributed significantly to the already dramatic situation. Universities and research institutions across the country demand for new staff members and flexibility in terms of employment contracts. These requirements come out of the fear that the system might get clogged by too many employees of the same generation. Young qualified professionals are sought after by many, yet none of the institutions is offering attractive working conditions that can assure employees’ stable future. The federal government is not helping the situation either. Since its creation in 2007, the “Science Time Contract Act” (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz – WissZeitVG) has served in order to ensure that doctorate students will be employed only in temporary positions. As per this act, young academics can be employed with a fixed-term contract that allows them to work for a maximum of six years before their doctorate and six years after their doctorate. This act has been amended several times allegedly in favor of scientific workers, yet without any results. Academics have continued to struggle, managing several different jobs without any planning security.

Gladly, social media and the freedom of speech offered there, are offering young scientists the opportunity to take the debate in their hands and act together for a change that has been long overdue. Since 2021, the social media has been bombarded with personal accounts and stories of academic workers circulating around under #IchbinHanna.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) issued a video in 2018 that aimed to explain the exact purpose of the amendment of the WissZeitVG and what it is supposed to achieve. The video shows how the protagonist, called Hanna, a doctoral candidate in Biology, needs to plan her professional career early on. Another point addressed in the video is that these fixed-term contracts are designed with limitations of twelve years with the aim to prevent “clogging’’ in the German higher education system.

After the video was released, the situation got even more intense since academic workers felt this video was rather a mockery than an explanation. Many suggested that instead of making such videos, the Ministry of Education could instead spend more time on revising the law and making things actually easier for scientists. Others criticized the Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek by pointing out how this video is making the next generation of scientists fear for their future professional careers in academia. Although the video was eventually taken down and a statement was issued by the BMBF, young scientific workers decided to take action on their end and shed more light on the issue through social media.

This is how the #IchbinHanna movement was born, two and a half years after the emergence of the video. Scholars and researchers across the country have shared their personal stories with the world and thus increased the attention that this problem has received not only within Europe but now across the world. Currently over 75 000 tweets have been shared on the topic, thus making society and future scientists much more informed about the issues.

Yet, this movement does not just come out of nowhere. In fact, people have been organizing themselves against fixed-term contracts for quite some time. In recent years, several local self-organizations have been founded at various German universities with the intention to promote permanent contracts and full pay for all academic and non-academic employees.

For many years the responsible authorities did not take the necessary actions, nor did they address the issue adequately. Instead, what they did is to create tension between scientists and universities and expose Germany’s world of academia to some serious consequences. Now, after twelve years of uncertainty the saga might be finally coming to its end. Triggered by the #IchbinHanna movement the issues with the fixed-term contracts were raised on a higher level and became a topic in the Bundestag at the end of June, 2021. Several parties have criticized universities and called for better working conditions, clear career perspectives, and a change in education policies. It is now up to the Ministry of Education, as well as other organizations and associations such as the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) to unite and take the necessary actions in order to create more opportunities for permanent employment contracts. The #IchbinHanna movement has certainly highlighted the importance and urgency of the time limits issue, getting even politicians involved in the initiative. Academic workers can now only hope for a reform of the law so they can finally benefit from a permanent position.