Towards an Open and Competitive European Area for Research Careers

Towards an Open and Competitive European Area for Research Careers is first report from the Max Weber Programme Academic Careers Observatory and looks at academic research careers in the social sciences and humanities. It provides an overview of different national academic systems and academic career patterns in Europe, touching at the same time on some crucial issues relating to these systems and career patterns such as salaries, women’s representation and postdocs in the social sciences and the humanities.

The report’s focus is on those elements of different systems that have been found, or are supposed, to either facilitate or hinder academic mobility both within national systems and across Europe. Aiming to enhance researcher and teacher mobility within Europe, European countries started the so-called Bologna Process, which is meant to create a more homogeneous and unified EU academic system, career structure and job market. However, as this report emphasises, the European Research and Higher Education Area is still far from being an Open, Integrated and Competititve Area for Research Careers.