Japan's science and education ministry has announced a ¥500-million (US$5-million) plan to pay companies to hire postdoctoral students.
The scheme aims to deal with a glut of unemployed postdocs in the nation. The number of academic posts available to them has shrunk since the 1990s, as a result of government streamlining in the university system (see Nature 449, 1084–1085; 2007).
By February 2009, 17,827 unemployed postdocs had registered with the Japan Information Career Network (JREC-IN), a website hosted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) that lists science-related jobs.
Industry traditionally recruits undergraduates, but the JST plans to provide grants to around 100 companies that hire postdocs, mainly through the JREC-IN. The grants would be financed through a supplementary budget being discussed in the current parliamentary session, which is expected to end in June.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Japan to pay firms to relieve postdoc glut. Nature 459, 152 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459152e
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459152e