68

September 2013

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ARTICLES

Analysis of the academic progress of junior lecturers

Esteve Arboix Codina - Head of Teaching Staff Assessment department

When a university offers a young teacher a temporary lecturer's contract, it is envisaged that over the period of five years of the contract they will acquire sufficient merit to apply for research accreditation and become eligible for an indefinite contract and consequently gain access to higher categories of teaching, especially senior lecturer. In general, junior lecturers have to cope with a considerable level of dedication and time to teaching as well as research work. So what is actually taking place in this process of transition?

A brief summary is presented below of the analysis made of the employment situation of junior lecturers currently employed as faculty staff at public universities in Catalonia (not including affiliated or associated centres) in order to determine whether they go on to obtain accreditation for either research or advanced research.

The information on junior lecturers employed on a contract basis (hereafter, contract junior lecturers) available in the UNEIX database (the information system at the Catalan Ministry for Universities and Research) was cross-checked with the information available in the databases at AQU Catalunya. The aim of this cross-checking was to establish if contract junior lecturers as a group have applied to the Agency for the accreditation of either research or advanced research. It should be noted that the AQU database does not contain information on non-civil servant junior lecturers with tenured accreditation issued by the Spanish national QA agency (ANECA).

Table 1. Contract junior lecturers currently employed as faculty staff at public universities in Catalonia (data from 1 January 2012
University Contract junior lecturers Contract junior lecturers who have applied to AQU for research accreditation % Contract junior lecturers who have received research accreditation %
UB 354 267 75,4% 170 48%
UAB 410 295 72% 178 43,4%
UPC 201 144 71,6% 112 55,7%
UPF 96 54 56,3% 36 37,5%
UdG 125 95 76% 58 46,4%
URV 114 87 76,3% 64 56,1%
UdL 50 35 70% 14 28%
Total 1.350 977 72,4% 632 46,8%

Table 1 shows the information on contract junior lecturers, regardless of the year of the contract, meaning that it includes lecturers from the first to the fifth year of the contract. According to the data, approximately three out of four contract junior lecturers have already applied to AQU for either research accreditation or advanced research accreditation, and around 50% of all contract junior lecturers already have such accreditation. As for the percentage of lecturers who have applied for accreditation, there is no outstanding difference between the universities; however, both the URV and UPC stand out in terms of contract junior lecturers who have received accreditation.

An in-depth analysis was also made of lecturers in the fourth year of their contract, as this is a critical time in terms of the renewal of a five-year contract.

Table 2. Junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract currently employed as faculty staff at public universities (data 1 January 2012)
University Junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract Junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract who have applied to AQU for accreditation % Contract junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract who have received research accreditation %
UB 78 68 87,2% 47 60,3%
UAB 56 46 82,1% 34 60,7%
UPC 25 22 88% 15 60%
UPF 12 6 50% 2 16,7%
UdG 5 3 60% 2 40%
URV 20 17 85% 15 75%
UdL 7 6 85,7% 2 28,6%
Total 203 168 82,8% 117 57,6%

Logically enough, the percentage of contract junior lecturers who have applied for accreditation is highest, and 8 out of 10 lecturers in the fourth year of their contract had applied to AQU for assessment for either research or advanced research. According to university, both the UPF (50%) and UdG (60%) stand out in terms of the low application rate, although the number of contract junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract in both universities was quite low (12 and 5, respectively).

On the other hand, it can be seen that around 60% of contract junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract had already obtained accreditation for research. This clearly shows that there is a considerable number of contract junior lecturers in the fourth year of their contract who are still not eligible for a regular contract. This calls for serious thought by the universities where they employed. According to university, there is one group that stands out, which is led by the URV and that also includes the UB, UAB and UPC, where 60% or more of junior lecturer staff in the fourth year of their contract have accreditation. On the other hand, the rates for the UPF, UdG and UdL are much lower, although the population is also much lower.

In conclusion, a significant percentage of contract junior lecturers follow the anticipated "training pathway", although just one year prior to their contract renewal there are still more than 40% who have not acquired the level required by AQU, which calls for an examination of this matter by those in charge of teaching staff and faculty policies. 

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