washington

Postdoctoral fellows at US universities are treated with “an unacceptable degree of variability and instability”, according to a scathing report drawn up by the research universities themselves.

A panel of the American Association of Universities (AAU), which has been studying the problem for three years, recommends far more extensive oversight of postdoctoral education by the universities.

It calls for more reliable provision of healthcare insurance and other benefits for postdocs, and for strict time-limits that will stop people from languishing indefinitely in postdoc positions. The report also suggests that all postdocs should receive a “statement of goals, policies and responsibilities applicable to postdoctoral education” with their appointment letter.

The panel, chaired by Steven Sample, president of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, points out that the postdoc has evolved from being an option to becoming an integral part of the training for university faculty positions.

“It is almost inconceivable today that someone would get a tenure-track post in the life sciences in a top university without having done a postdoc,” says Sample.

But the universities — including the 50 AAU members who employ the overwhelming majority of 35,000 postdocs who work in the United States, according to the report — have no policy for postdocs and exercise no oversight over their employment.

“Most institutions make little or no attempt to control the number or the quality of postdoctoral appointees on campus,” the report says. “It is common for institutions either to have no time limits on postdoctoral appointments, or regularly to ignore or waive established limits.”

The AAU report also acknowledges “the widely held perception that the postdoctoral appointment is being used as an employment holding pattern”. Privately, university officials concede that postdocs are often seen by faculty as a cheap source of laboratory assistance, without adequate attention being paid to their own education or to their career-development needs.

And although institutions claim to give postdocs full employee benefits, postdocs surveyed by the AAU cited benefits as one of their main areas of concern. The report calls for all postdocs to gain access to comprehensive health care for themselves and their families. It isn't known how many postdocs currently lack this, according to John Vaughn, executive vice-president of the AAU.

The report finds that, of the individuals who complete postdoc appointments, a quarter move on to another postdoc post, a quarter get a tenure-track faculty position, and one-tenth get a non-tenure-track faculty post. The others leave the academic world.

It recommends that initial postdoc appointments should last no longer than two or three years, and that the total time spent in postdoctoral positions should not exceed six years. “I think it is perfectly healthy to say to people that there is a time limit on postdocs,” says Sample, adding that postdocs have to be “realistic” about the kind of job they will accept afterwards.

Neither Sample nor Vaughn could name an institution that has a statement of the goals of postdoctoral education of the type that the report suggests should be handed to postdocs with their appointment letter.

The AAU, which represents 50 leading research universities in both the public and private sectors, was founded in 1900 to coordinate the award of PhDs between universities. According to Sample, PhD education then was every bit as chaotic as postdoctoral education is today.