Comunidades de vecindad e inserción en la globalización

1.1.1. The Swiss academic labour market since the 1990s: A growing “post-

doc bubble” and an a_rac:ve academic market

The Swiss university system is based on the 'Humboldt' model of organiza8ons, imported from Germany (Kopp, 2014). In line with this model, Swiss universi8es are organized around disciplinary facul8es and ins8tutes (Lehrstuhl) chaired by single full professors. Within this system, academic staff are divided into two dis8nct categories. At the top of the academic hierarchy stands the 'body' of professors or 'chairs',i.e. members of the academic staff who are are employed on a permanent and usually full-8me basis to teach, carry out research and manage the daily running of their ins8tute. At the rela8vely lower stages of the academic hierarchy stands theMivelbau (orcorps intermédiaire in French),i.e. PhD students hired as assistants, post-docs or junior academics, who are also expected to teach and do research but who are recruited on temporary, fixed-term contracts (some8mes part-8me) and who are obliged to work under the professional authority of full professors or 'chairs' (Musselin, 2009: 23). To progress to permanent posi8ons, members of the upperMivelbau had to wait – some8mes for a very long 8me – for a permanent posi8on to become available (Schultheis, 2000).

This 'humbold8an' organiza8onal frame is thus associated with what some researchers have termed a 'survivor' career pamern (Enders & Musselin, 2008: 134–135). To reach a permanent posi8on, young academics have to find the means to 'survive' the long period of precariousness and dependency on their professors and are in constant compe88on with their peers in theMivelbau for the opportunity to move on to permanent professor posi8ons.

In the context of rapid expansion and the interna8onalisa8on of its higher educa8on sector since the beginning of the 2000s, Switzerland has started to experiment with new kinds of academic posi8ons. Innova8ve policies to support the post-doctoral careers of young researchers have been adopted, notably by the Swiss Na8onal Science Founda8on (SNSF) (Fassa & Kradolfer, 2013). The (temporary) funding opportuni8es provided by the SNFS and others founda8ons or ins8tu8ons have undoubtedly increased the number of PhDs andMivlebau who are able to undertake the kind of academic ac8vi8es that will enable them to apply for permanent professorships at some (distant) point in the future. However, since the number of permanent posi8ons within Swiss universi8es has

6 More informa8on on these topics are available in previous GARCIA reports – see especially (Le Feuvre, 2015; Kradolfer, 2015; Bataille & Goastellec, 2015).

remained rela8vely stable over 8me, the pro-ac8ve support of young academics has led to the emergence of a large PhD and post-doc 'bubble' in the Swiss context (Theodosiou, Rennard & Amir-Aslani, 2012).

An analysis of the internal structure of the Swiss academic labour market shows that the number and rela8ve weight of theMivlebau increased considerably over the period under study (OFS, 2014). The academic career structure has thus become increasingly 'bomom heavy' over 8me: in 1980, there were four (temporary) assistantships or scien8fic collaborator posi8ons for every full professorship. By 2014, this figure had doubled (1 for 8).

These changes suggest that compe88on for a permanent professorial posi8on within the Swiss academic context has intensified over the past 25 years. This is compounded by the undeniable amrac8veness of Swiss universi8es for foreign academics, par8cularly those from the neighbouring countries of France, Germany and Italy. At present, more than 45% of full professorships in Switzerland are held by foreigners.

1.1.2. The Swiss labour market: Full employment and skilled labour

shortage

In the current European climate of high unemployment and economic recession, Switzerland stands out as something of an excep8on. Indeed, with an unemployment rate below 5% since the end of the 1990s, the Swiss economic context can be qualified as healthy and stable, especially in comparison to it’s neighbouring countries, such as France or Italy, which were badly hit by the post-2008 economic recession.

One other significant characteris8c of the Swiss context is the rela8ve shortage of skilled labour. In comparison to countries like Canada or France, there is a rela8vely small pool of ter8ary-level graduates in Switzerland. In 2011, only 20% of 18-year-olds passed the na8onal qualifica8on that provided direct access to higher educa8on ins8tu8ons, as compared to 68% of French 18-year-olds and 51% of Canadian 18-year-olds from the same genera8on (Kamanzi, Guégnard, Imdorf, et al., 2014). This dearth of university- educated employees can be partly explained by the social pres8ge associated with voca8onal training in the Swiss context and by a highly segregated secondary school system, where selec8on to the higher educa8on track is s8ff and occurs rela8vely early within the educa8onal trajectory (Kamanzi, Guégnard, Imdorf, et al., 2014: 174). A direct consequence of this selec8ve system is a durable shortage of high-skill workers in the Swiss labour market. According to a recent survey of the Swiss 'talent shortage', 41% of employers declared that they are struggling to find staff with skills adapted to their needs (Manpower, 2015). Among the difficul8es faced by Swiss employers, the survey cites the lack of suitably qualified candidates. Because of this lack of qualified staff, many Swiss companies tend to recruit from abroad (Wanner, 2004). A study has shown that, in 2009, no less than 64% of the top managers from the 200 largest Swiss companies were foreigners, whereas this was the case for only 22% of the top managers in France and 27% in Germany (Davoine & Ravasi, 2013).

1.1.3. The “modified male breadwinner” Swiss gender regime & the UNIL

“leaky pipeline”

As we already note in previous reports (WP3), from a gender perspec8ve, Switzerland has evolved over the past twenty years towards the widespread adop8on of a 'modified male breadwinner' norma8ve model of gender rela8ons (Crompton, 1999; Lewis, 1992). This 'modified male breadwinner' gender regime is bolstered by a number of structural characteris8cs of Swiss society, such as the very low levels of childcare provision or the extremely expensive childcare costs, long working hours for full-8mers and low male unemployment rate.

A more specific focus on educa8on and academia reveals the implica8on of such a gender regime in terms of horizontal and ver8cal segrega8on and gender pay gap, par8cularly at the upper reaches of the occupa8onal hierarchy. Although there has been a considerable improvement in women’s access to higher educa8on over the past 15 years, the academic occupa8onal hierarchy con8nues to demonstrate a clear 'glass ceiling'. Women are well-represented amongst doctoral students and make up a significant propor8on of temporary research posi8ons, but they are much less likely than their male counterparts to reach permanent professorships (She Figures, 2012). In 1998, women represented only 7% of full professors and since then their number has increased, largely thanks to a number of federal equal opportunity programs developed since 2000 (Fassa & Kradolfer, 2013). By 2006, their number had doubled (14%) and they represented around 20% of full professors (Fassa, Kradolfer & Paroz, 2012), with significant varia8ons according to disciplinary field.