Do universities prefer not to hire their own PhD graduates in faculty positions? [closed]

Question

I have heard that universities tend not to hire people who earned their PhD there for professorships (tenured or not). (I've read this question, but it's about postdocs: Is it normal that research institutes do not hire their own PhDs for postdoc positions?)

If one graduated from a university, and then did a few turns as a postdoc or non-tenured professor, would a university/department still be disinclined to hire them 10 years post-graduation?

I know there's a lot of factors that go into hiring professors, as well as many reasons to go to different universities/institutes (addressed in the linked question), so I'm mostly curious about this specific truism I've heard.

Although I live in the U.S., I'm curious about North American and European practices (so as not to invalidate answers already given).

Answer 1

At my university - or at least in my department - the norm seems to be that they prefer to hire externally for tenure-track jobs (speaking from experience serving on a search committee for a tenure-track position). The line of reasoning is, "if we're the ones who taught/mentored/molded Candidate X, then they're not bringing in anything new in terms of scholarship."

This is less applicable to non-tenure track jobs, as those faculty members are usually teaching lower level classes and don't have any research obligations. There are several PhD faculty members in my department that were hired internally who work as lecturers.

Anecdotal, of course, but I've studied at/worked at a few universities over the years, and this is the pattern I've tended to see. Tenure-track: external. Non-tenure-track: internal OK.

Answer 2

As there is no "US" tag, the German universities have a general and quite strictly enforced policy that no one may be "simply" given a professorship at the same university where they were postdocs. No Hausberufung.

The rule is about "promoting" people to professors internally. If you were somewhere else, it's not a problem. If you have a position offer from somewhere else it should not be a problem.

The basic idea is to "validate" people in tenure positions from outside and to prevent folks "growing into" a tenured position from a life-long career at the same place.

Answer 3

2nd hand knowledge here, take with a grain of salt:

In the university I'm familiar with, a PhD who wants a career in the same university is required to do several post-docs abroad.

This makes following career paths possible:

• PhD at A, post-doc at A, career at B
• PhD at A, post-doc at B, career at A
• [and more complex]

This seems like a compromise between your original statement, your post-doc link and appointments from within the organisation which could lead to cronyism.

I believe there's deeper rationale at work as well, scientists' responsibility is not only research but also spreading the knowledge and methods. An arrangement like this ensures that both A's progress is shared with B, as well as B's progress is brought into A.

Answer 4

I'm currently working at a Russell Group university in the UK, which apparently goes against this general trend. I've heard that internal candidates are actually preferred. The reasoning is that hiring an internal candidate minimizes the risk, particularly the risk of personality or culture mismatch. There are plenty examples of former PhD students (or even former students since the undergraduate level) who are now Lecturers, Readers, or Professors.

While this preference itself might be a department-specific thing, it's certain that there are no university-wide policies against it. Also, to my knowledge, this is definitely not typical in Europe (source: previous experience in the Swedish academic system).

Answer 5

I have heard the same thing by way of rumour (never confirmed by any official policy) in my own alma mater in Australia. My understanding is that this aversion comes from a concern that hiring one's own PhD graduates does not yield any outside academic standard bearing on the process. This gives rise to a danger that a university could lose its academic standards over time by failing to test its hires against the standards of other institutions. I would imagine that this concern is obviated if the person holds a position at another university in between their PhD graduation and their later application to the same institution.

Answer 6

Adding my two cents worth: in my English university - internal hires are the exception rather than the norms. That said, several that have been shortlisted or hired have had some experience teaching and clocking up publications with a stint elsewhere. So to this question: If one graduated from a university, and then did a few turns as a postdoc or non-tenured professor, would a university/department still be disinclined to hire them 10 years post-graduation?

Yes, as they are judged, pari pasu, with other worthy candidates.