3.3.4The academic career track

By Noëmi Debacker (UGent).

The largest share of starting professors in Flanders is internally recruited; among the individuals who started as a professor between 2013-2014 and 2016-2017, 57% had obtained the PhD at the same university. Only 20% had obtained the PhD at another Flemish university and 23% had obtained the PhD outside Flanders. However, the share of internally recruited professors has decreased over time: among the professors starting between 2001-2002 and 2004-2005 this was still 76%.

Due to the disproportional increase in the number of doctorate holders compared to the number of professorial positions and the (slow) internationalisation of the professorial staff in Flanders the possibility of holders of a Flemish PhD to obtain a professorship at a Flemish university is slowly decreasing. Whereas it was 18.6% nine years after obtaining the PhD among the doctorate holders of 1997-1998 to 1999-2000, it was 15.0% among the doctorate holders of 2003-2004 to 2005-2006. Preliminary numbers of a more recent cohort indicate further decreasing promotion rates. Promotion rates differ largely by scientific cluster: they are higher in medical, social and human sciences and lower in applied and natural sciences.