Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

Table B.1 Average age tenured faculty 1997 and 2004
Average age 1997 Average age 2004
Full professors 49,97 53,00
Associate professors 50,44 54,15
Assistant professors 45,38 47,52
The gender breakdown in 2004 is 60% male and 40% female, a slight improvement over 1997 when it was 63
against 37%. The gender distribution over the various ranks is much more imbalanced. Among non-tenured
faculty (PhDs and postdocs) women are over-represented, whereas among tenured faculty, especially full and
associate professors, men are over-represented, as table B.2 makes clear.
Table B.2 Gender division OGC faculty 1997 and 2004
1997 2004
Total M F Total M F
Full professors 36 29 7 53 42 11
Associate professors 34 28 6 34 24 10
Assistant professors 72 50 22 81 56 25
Non tenured staff 29 17 12 37 16 21
PhDs 76 32 44 80 37 43
NB. The increase in the category of full professors is due to the number extra-ordinary chairs created in the period
under review.
A policy to redress this situation has so far produced only limited results. In 1998, dr Elsbeth Locher-Scholten
was made an associate professor in the context of affi rmative action of the University. In 2000, NWO (Netherlands
Organization for Scientifi c Research) launched its Aspasia-programme, designed to promote female
assistant professors to associate ranks. OGC submitted six applications, all of which were awarded A-status.
For two of these, dr Josine Blok and dr Marijke Meijer Drees, NWO decided to provide extra research
money. The University Board promoted the other four as well: dr Truus van Bueren, dr Rosemarie Buikema,
dr Aleid Fokkema, dr Els Kloek.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Postdoctoral researchers are all appointed in the Research institute. Most of them are funded on the basis
of research projects fi nanced by NWO or from non-governmental funding. In the 2000-2004 period some
appointments were fi nanced by the special funding the institute received from the University Board for
the Scenarios for the Humanities programme (Scenario’s voor de Geesteswetenschappen). Postdocs can be
appointed for a maximum of fi ve years, irrespective of whether or not prolonged employment is available.
During the period under review 43 NWO Postdocs, 3 KNAW-fellows and 2 Grotius-fellows have been
hosted by the OGC (the Grotius-programme of the Universities of Amsterdam, Groningen and Utrecht aims
to promote postdoc mobility). See for a list of Postdocs employed on NWO funding Table B. 12.
PhD
In the Netherlands, PhD-students are not really students at all, but junior employees of the university. In the
years 1997-99 Dutch universities experimented with student status for PhDs, but this was successfully challenged
in the courts by the unions. Their salary is protected by the same legislation (and the same unions) as
other faculty. In the last seven years, PhD positions have become almost twice as expensive. As a new generation
of researchers, PhDs are crucial for a dynamic research environment. Maintaining a regular infl ux of new
PhDs for all programmes therefore has been a top priority for OGC management, and indeed the Faculty
Board. In the period 1998-2002 the Faculty’s objective was to fi nance, from the regular budget, a total of
53 PhD-positions for both Research Institutes combined, implying an average of 13 new positions annually.
For OGC this amounted to a total of 39 positions, or ten new positions annually. As a result of budget
cuts, however, the Faculty was forced to drop this objective in 2002. The institutes now receive a fi xed lump
OGC Research Institute for History and Culture
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