The academic community set off a wave of departure?They still have to go on the pressure of loans to raise children

Compilation ｜ Meng Lingxiao

Sarah Tashjian is the first college student in the family and is currently a post -doctoral researcher at California Institute of Technology. However, she is considering leaving the academic world.

She lamented: In 2015, sitting in 10 papers can make the academic road unobstructed. Today, she has published 29 papers, 16 of which is the first author, but these are not enough to ensure the lifelong teaching position of the academic community.

She decided to persist for another three years, and changed her career if there was no change. "Sometimes, it was meaningless to continue our so -called 'high -cost persistence'."

Earth scientist Christopher Jackson has taken action. In March of this year, he said in social media that he would leave the University of Manchester in the UK and go to the scientific consulting company to work.

"If scientific researchers are under the pressure of mortgage loans, cars, and children, they still have to leave the academic world. The reason behind it is worth pondering." Christopher said.

Under the label of the social media#在 在 在 (#Leaving Academia), more and more scientific researchers have announced their resignation of their academic duties and turned to work in the industry.

#Leaving Academia labels in social media

Christopher believes that the new crown epidemic has triggered the re -evaluation of occupations and lifestyles in scientists. Longer working hours, more teaching needs, and more difficult promotion paths have exacerbated the dissatisfaction of scientific researchers to work.

In 2021 Nature researchers' salary and satisfaction survey, less than half of the respondents remained optimistic about their career prospects. In contrast, in the 2018 survey, this ratio is close to 60%. Compared with people in the early and late stages of career, scientific researchers in the middle of their careers often have lower satisfaction.

Under the increasingly accumulated dissatisfaction, the "big tide" of the academic world has begun.

In the middle of career, more dissatisfaction

In 2021 Nature researchers 'salary and satisfaction survey, scientific researchers' dissatisfaction with the status quo can be seen.

The survey was responded to more than 3,200 in -service researchers around the world. The slightly more than one -third of the respondents from North America, about a quarter of the respondents from Europe, 14%from Britain and 10%from Asia.

More than 1,200 scientific researchers in the middle of their careers believe that more and more future uncertainty and challenges are increasing.

The first is anxiety about uncertainty: nearly a quarter (24%) intermediate researchers said that they are extremely dissatisfied with their career development opportunities. In contrast, 17%of the early and 19%of the later scientific researchers have such concerns. Corresponding to this, 37%of the middle -term scientific researchers are not satisfied with the current position, which is higher than that of early career (32%) and late (32%) scientific researchers.

For scientific researchers in the middle of the career, the responsibilities and administrative tasks beyond the scope of laboratory are commonplace. The survey showed that 34%of the interim researchers were dissatisfied with the time they used for research, and 21%of early scientific researchers and 28%of later scientific researchers also complained.

In the early career, 32%of scientific researchers were dissatisfied with the obstacles of organizational politics or bureaucracy. This proportion rose to 41%among the middle -term scientific researchers.

Nature Magazine interviewed a dozen scientists who left the academic circles and found that the harmful and healthy working environment, workplace bullying, neglecting security and well -being, etc., all promoted scientific researchers to leave the school.

Behind the wave of departure

On March 31, Caspar Addyman, a development psychologist at the University of London University of London, announced his resignation in social media. In his resignation letter, he mentioned the bad results of university management, and what eventually prompted his resignation was that his pension was cut by 38%.

Faced with the rising costs, Gin Smith College has announced 20 offices so far. A spokesman for the college said: "The changes at this stage are frustrated and painful. In order to ensure that the college has a sustainable future, we have made some difficult decisions."

Coincidentally, during the new crown epidemic, Australian universities were severely damaged due to the sharp decline in international students' tuition. As of May 2021, one -fifth of Australia's academic positions were cut.

"We observe that many scientific researchers are looking for jobs elsewhere, saying that a lot of scientific researchers will choose to retire." We said that those retained researchers were reluctant to bear if they were affordable. " A large number of jobs left by the leaving.

In the face of excess work, the needs of researchers have not received much attention.

British social research consultant Naomi Tyrrell founded Altac Careers UK in 2020 to help people transform from the academic community. She mentioned that excessive work is a key factor that prompt people to leave, and the transformation of university management to profit -making models is also worried. She quoted a scientific researcher: "No one said thank you, and no one asked me if I was fine, or how college support my work."

Jess Leveto, a sociologist at Kent State University in the United States, heard similar complaints: for a long time, people have held the mentality of "production as much as possible and showing me as a good employee", but this idea has not been there. get payback. LEVETO established a social media group called "Doctor Mother" in 2015 to provide support for the mother of the academic world. In recent years, less than 1500 members have grown to approximately 12,000 members. In addition, there is a special group composed of more than 300 mothers to discuss how to leave the academic world.

During the new crown epidemic, due to children's conservation needs, many women's careers have been affected more than men.

How to cope with the wave of resignation?

At the moment when academic talents are lost, many colleges and universities are acting.

In 2018, Barbara Boyan, Dean of the School of Engineering of the Federal University of Federality, and Susan Kornstein, executive director of the Institute of Women's Health, was funded by the National Science Foundation to increase the development of recruitment, consolidation, and promoting female researchers. Boyan said that the college did not lose any female scientific researchers due to the new crown epidemic, and this five -year funding of $ 3 million played a role.

In 2021, at the school of the school, two of the three colored men received the titles of orthodox professors, which was closely related to the president Boyan's guidance. She said: "Someone must tell them,‘ you are ready ’.”

Expert McKenzie, an expert in Australia's labor, wants to know whether all institutions will introduce more primary talents and replace long -term contracts with shorter contracts? However, this will also exacerbate the instability of academic positions.

Reference materials:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01512-6

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03041-0

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19415257.2018.1474491?journalCode=rjie2020

https://twitter.com/hashtag/leavingacademia?src=hashtag_click

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01289-8

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