Norwegian government figures indicating a decline in temporary employment “disguise” the extent of the problem, academics have said, claiming that they fail to account for job losses while excluding certain forms of fixed-term contracts.

indicate that 8.8 per cent of employees in research, teaching or administrative roles at Norwegian universities or university colleges are currently on temporary contracts, a decline of 0.1 per cent over the past year and a 4.6 per cent decrease since 2019.

Research and higher education minister Sigrun Aasland described the latest numbers as “good news for both employees and institutions”, saying in a statement: “More permanent positions in academia contribute to stability and increased competitiveness, and we avoid talent seeking permanent positions elsewhere.”

However, Steinar Sæther, president of the Norwegian Association of Researchers (NAR), said he was “not very impressed by the numbers presented by the government”, telling ����Vlog that they present a skewed image of employment practices in Norwegian higher education – most notably because they do not account for job losses.

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“They disguise the fact that we have lost about 1,000 [fixed-term] jobs, so that instead of more people getting secure positions, what has actually happened is that many of the people on fixed-term contracts have lost their jobs,” he said.

Moreover, Sæther said, NAR has a “long-standing disagreement with the government” on what constitutes temporary employment, with researchers in “permanent temporary” positions – mainly roles that are dependent on funding from outside the university – excluded from consideration. “If those positions were included, the [figures] would look a lot worse,” he said.

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Describing career precarity as “a big problem, especially for younger scholars”, Sæther said that university staff face “much higher job insecurity compared to other sectors in the Norwegian economy, which makes academic careers seem much less attractive”.

Gabriela Kazimiera Warden, materials science researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and former president of the NTNU temporary scientific employee organisation DION, said the financial constraints facing Norwegian universities only exacerbate the issue of precarity.

“There have been extreme budget cuts for research and education, making Norwegian universities more dependent on external funding,” Warden said.

“I think it’s a problem in many countries but we feel it a lot at NTNU. In our faculty there has been a hiring stop for permanent positions, so we know that after our temporary contracts there are no possibilities to continue. It gives you a lot of anxiety, to know that you need to move.

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“It’s very hard to actually focus on your research at times, especially when the end of your contract is approaching, because people are frantically looking for jobs, looking at relocating to another country, or looking at being on unemployment benefits.”

Large external funders, Sæther said, could help address the issue by “offering longer funding cycles and requiring continuity guarantees so that more researchers would be able to remain at the universities where they have succeeded in getting external funding”.

Universities, meanwhile, “have to prioritise permanent contracts and develop structured career pathways”, he told THE. One potential approach repeatedly proposed by NAR, he said, is the establishment of “a pool of resources for scholars employed on externally funded projects so that when the projects run out of money, the risk doesn’t need to be on the individual academic but could to a large extent be borne by the university”.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com