Sir

Declan Butler describes the possible impact on French research of the change of government (Nature 387, 645; 1997). He emphasizes that the Socialists have a more favourable attitude towards academic research than the previous government, but also that mandatory reforms would face “widespread resistance”, particularly if the system of life tenure were to be threatened.

This is probably a realistic view of the reaction of most civil servants. Budgets have been under pressure for a long time, and there have been no resources to enable postdoc researchers to build dynamic research teams. Foreigners are welcome in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and other national organizations, which proves that it is not a chauvinistic system. It is, however, a rigid system, and there is no real alternative between getting a permanent position and having to rely on one-year research and teaching posts in universities. Most new French PhDs have to leave French laboratories when they have completed their three years.

This rigidity reflects a general problem in the French economy, where there is no real tradition of short-term employment contracts (perhaps renewed several times), the most efficient way to manage projects in a fast-changing world. A worker must by law be offered a full-time post after two short-term contracts lasting a maximum of 18 months. Only a few semi-private institutions such as the Institut Pasteur are free to hire contract researchers of any nationality at will. Academic laboratories of the CNRS and others that would like to recruit postdoctoral students have to rely on a few 18-month positions offered by the Direction de la Recherche et des Etudes Techniques of the defence ministry, or on specifically designed short-term contracts reserved for foreigners ( postes rouges or roses). Most postdocs are foreigners with grants from foreign or supranational organizations.

This situation has its origins in the French grandes écoles system, which leaves French industry in the hands of well trained engineers who usually lack contact with fundamental research (except in large companies), and the academic system in the hands of scientists with no incentives or financial means to transform their research results into new products and jobs.

It is to be hoped that a consensus on these basic facts, which imply the need for a different type of funding for academic research, will be accepted by both sides of the political spectrum.