Temporary teachers given short-term contracts again due to budget cuts

This autumn, a lecturer was hired by the Interdisciplinary Social Science programme for a temporary position. This person will teach from November 2024 to July 2025. Though the vacancy mentioned the possibility of an extension, the lecturer was not given a four-year appointment, which has been the university's policy since 2019.

At the time, the Executive Board decided to put an end to the poor working conditions temporary lecturers with short-term contracts were subjected to. From then on, contracts would not only have a minimum term of four years but also a minimum number of work days per week: 0.7 FTE. In addition, UU decided that temporary teachers should have enough room to develop themselves.

The percentage of temporary lecturers with such contracts has risen from 17 percent in 2020 to 51.7 percent at the end of last year. The university was hoping to achieve 80 percent of its temporary lecturers appointed for at least four years and 0.7 FTE, but this goal may be out of reach now that the higher education sector is undergoing major budget cuts. 

The temporary lecturer who just joined ISW is not an exception. This academic year, three other people working for the same programme were given contracts lasting anywhere between six and thirteen months. In the Psychology programme, a lecturer was hired for 1.5 years.

In some other places within the university, the austerity measures are also causing people to be hired under short-term contracts, if anyone is hired at all. Many places have set a hiring freeze, with temporary employees only being hired in exceptional cases. 

Preventing higher workload
"Well, we are not happy about this either," says Marcel Lubbers, departmental chair for ISW. "Long-term contracts are better for everyone, but this is the result of government policy. Our faculty is being forced to adopt a hiring freeze. Exceptions can be made, but four-year appointments are not an option at the moment."

According to Lubbers, the department can't rule out the possibility of appointing people on short-term contracts more often. "Our programme is growing and we want to prevent the workload from becoming unacceptably high. That's why we must do something when a colleague drops out or leaves."

Department chair Albert Postma, from the Department of Psychology, has a similar argument. "Unfortunately, we are unable to appoint new teachers for a four-year contract. As unfortunate as it is, hopefully, we will see opportunities to hire teachers for longer in the future. After all, we are talking about committed, talented and often young colleagues who are of great value to our programme."

Good employment practices
Dean Leoniek Wijngaards, from the Faculty of Social Sciences, confirms this state of affairs by e-mail. She also refers to the vacancy freeze recently announced by the faculty. "Programmes will be allowed to appoint a temporary teacher if necessary. Although we would like to offer a four-year contract as part of good employment practices, this is not justifiable given the budget cuts we are facing."

The issue has not yet been addressed by the faculty council because it is not about changing faculty policy. Faculty council member Kirsten Buist emphasises that four-year appointments would be better, but she also understands the dilemma between enforcing the hiring freeze and preventing the workload from increasing. "What is difficult about this issue is that there are rather conflicting considerations."

The Executive Board also acknowledges the dilemma faculties are faced with and "is open to exceptions" to the principle that temporary lecturers should be given four-year contracts. "We will continue to talk to each other and look for solutions together," the Executive Board says in a statement.

The unions in the Local Consultative Body state that they will always strive for "permanent appointments for permanent work". So, in their eyes, even four-year appointments are far from ideal. However, the unions also acknowledge that faculties have very limited options right now.

The Faculty of Social Sciences has the highest percentage of temporary lecturers among all UU faculties: 21.2 percent at the end of last year. The average for the seven UU faculties is 12.2 percent.