How does the Dutch academic culture compare to other countries in Europe?

Question

I am Dutch, but have only studied in the Netherlands for my undergraduate degree. I am now applying to assistant professorships. The places where I have been for my PhD and afterwards were quite relaxed; essentially there was not a worry in the world. Obviously that changes as you get loaded with more and more responsibilities in a faculty job, but that is not what my question is about.

From the popular media, I get the impression that Dutch academia is tough: pressure to publish, pressure to get grants, internal political games, etc. Is this indeed the case? How does it compare to other countries in Europe? How should I weigh this into the equation when applying for assistant professorship?

Answer 1

I'm an assistant professor in the Netherlands with previous experiences in other European countries. I fully agree with everything that @Louic writes in his answer. I can especially emphasize the point that the culture between different universities and even departments in the same university can vary a lot.

Additional points:

1. Hierarchies in departments can be particularly "pyramid-like". In particular, the term "assistant professor" is often taken more literally than in other countries, and it's quite common that people stay at the tenured assistant professor level for their whole career. One aspect is that assistant professors often cannot supervise their own PhD students, but need the formal involvement of a full professor who gets the main credit for the supervision.

2. On the positive side, the overall funding situation seems to be particularly nice compared to other countries, especially with regard to the direct flow of money from the country to the universities. For example, the newly hired assistant professors at my department got a package with a PhD student included, which I have not seen in any other countries.

3. The teaching year is relatively long compared to other countries. There is hardly any break between fall and spring semester, and with about 6 weeks, the summer break is relatively short as well. Many professors take 3 or 4 weeks of summer vacation, which can give the impression that things are particularly relaxed.

Overall, if you find a position in a good place, you can absolutely have a very positive experience. As a tenure-tracker, I benefit from a very comfortable teaching load (20% in the first three years!). My tenure criteria are very clear and quantified, which reduces the potential for arbitrariness, and I have a department head who's a genuinely good person.

Answer 2

I think this question cannot be answered with a clear answer, but I will try to help because I think my experience may be useful: I am from The Netherlands and got my MSc there. My PhD and Postdoc experience was in France (2 universities) and the UK (2 universities).

• Cultures vary per university, not only per country
• Political games are everywhere
• Pressure to publish and to get grants is worldwide
• If anything, I think there are less political games in The Netherlands compared to most other European countries, but I may be biased a little.

You should probably be happy with an assistant professorship anywhere: they are hard to get throughout Europe, even with an excellent CV and publication record, although (obviously) positions in less prestigious universities are less competitive.

Answer 3

From my subjective experience the Netherlands does very well in genuinely trying to find the best applicant for the position advertised. There are less situations of say a generic postdoc advertisement but internally it is already decided that the position will go to professor X's lab regardless of quality of applications or even positions that are publicly advertised although in practice it is already decided who is going to get it.