Career paths in science: Results of the Higher Education Conference working group

This was the question addressed by the Higher Education Conference (HSK)’s working group on "Careers in Research in the Context of the European Research Area", which met from 2022 to 2024. The results were presented on Thursday, 11 April, at a conference on "Career paths in science and research assessment". Maria Unger was a member of this working group on behalf of the OeAD and contributed the European perspective: Together with the FFG, the OeAD is a partner in the European network EURAXESS – Researchers in Motion. This initiative supports mobility and careers of researchers and thus contributes to Europe's role as an outstanding centre of scientific research.

The main recommendations of the working groups are:

• Early promotion of alternative career models away from the traditional career paths at universities, from degree course to doctorate, post-doc position and finally professorship,
• paying more attention to qualitative standards when assessing career achievements,
• and making career paths more permeable, for example between industry and higher education institutions.

The Higher Education Conference (HSK) is an advisory and coordination body consisting of representatives from public and private universities, universities of applied sciences and university colleges of teacher education, the Austrian National Union of Students and the Austrian Ministry of Education.

You can read the event summary and the complete recommendations here.