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A majority of academics (from assistant-full professors) at The Faculty of Computer Science in my university are working as adjuncts.

Why do they stay as adjuncts and not move around too in the EU or other developed countries to find a permanent position? I saw many small universities across the border in Germany offering permanent positions.

Secondly, how do adjunct teachers sustain their lives? I mean, the adjunct salary must be minuscule.

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    Often, people aren't as mobile due to partners and family
    – Sursula
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 8:35
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    Well in my part of the university doing that would be more lucrative than working as a professor or lecturer (which many universities count as a professor) although individual mileage may vary. And you can concentrate on the teaching when teaching and don't have to deal with university politics (much). This is especially good gig if you don't want to do direct research,
    – joojaa
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 19:01

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The biggest factor that makes people less interested to move around is:

  • The presence of a spouse or children. If the spouse has a job, then they can't easily move. Similarly, moving would mean having to find a new school for the children. Moving also means leaving all of one's friends behind, which is a major cost.

Other factors are:

  • Owning property. If you own property in City A and move to City B, what happens to your house in City A? Do you sell it? Do you buy a new house in City B? Property is illiquid (i.e. it is not easily converted to cash), so moving has a serious cost.
  • Time. Moving is extremely time-consuming. You need to find a place to live, a place for food, a place for daily amenities, a new dentist, etc.
  • Visa issues. Only applicable if you are moving to another country, but if they're present, they are another major hassle. It's possible the target country wants you tested for tuberculosis, or certificates of good conduct, etc.
  • Language issues. English is the language of academia, but if you move to a country where English is not the main language (e.g. Germany as in the OP) then communication with others (especially non-academics) can be hard.
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    Language also! A
    – user111388
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 11:10
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    I agree with user111388 that language barrier also plays a role ie. if you live somewhere else for a while you will probably have to learn some of the language for your own benefit.
    – Tom
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 18:17
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    Retirement! Switching between retirement plans is detrimental, most of the time, as many retirement systems are not linear in the number of years.
    – Xi'an ні війні
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 19:56
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    Even without owning property I would say that moving has a serious cost. I would have mentioned "Money" by itself as a factor. Not everyone can afford to move.
    – Ivo
    Commented Mar 7, 2023 at 7:57
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    @BenHocking: In most countries, they do, as workers are required to contribute to public pension systems, with varying benefits depending on the number of years they contribute. For instance, Germany has rules against hiring new full professors more than 50 or so for the reason they are provided with full retirement benefits up to that age. See insidehighered.com/advice/2013/09/16/…
    – Xi'an ні війні
    Commented Mar 7, 2023 at 13:52
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To supplement the answer of Allure, some people serve as adjuncts as a part time position because they have very good full-time employment as a researcher in industry. They just love to teach and associate with academics, but find their "day job" more important.

The place I last taught prior to retirement had some of these and they were highly respected and taught upper level courses in their research specialty. This could occur partly because of geography, with a number of universities and a number of top level research organizations located in easy commuting distance from one another.

Not all adjuncts are desperate.

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    I taught as an adjunct for many years while concluding my industry career because I wanted to teach. After I retired from industry I taught full time for nearly 20 more years. Now I've retired from the university and I'm back as an adjunct because I enjoy it.
    – Bob Brown
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 13:40
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    This is the correct usage of adjunct contracts!
    – Ian Sudbery
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 14:59
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    In the United States, most adjuncts rely on teaching to pay the bills.
    – Anonymous Physicist
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 16:57
  • @AnonymousPhysicist this is an issue that varies by department. All of the adjuncts in my department are retired from industry, have full-time employment elsewhere, or are consultants who teach as an adjunct for the reputational benefits of being associated with the university (and because they enjoy the students)— also we are a professional program and our adjuncts do not have PhD degrees
    – Dawn
    Commented Mar 6, 2023 at 15:29
  • Any sentence that starts out "In the United States, most..." is likely to be an overgeneralization based on personal observation. There is far too much variation between states, within states, between R1 universities and liberal arts colleges, across fields, etc. to be able to categorically state that something is true for "most" of anything.
    – shoover
    Commented Mar 6, 2023 at 18:52
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@allure lists all but one of the reasons that I had in my mind as well. The last one is this:

  • Moving around to other places and jobs only makes sense if you have a reasonable belief that it will lead to a better outcome than what you have right now.

I'm not sure that is true for many. There is fierce competition for permanent positions, by the best people in a field. You have to be quite good to get such a position, and not everyone is certain that they are or that they are willing to put in the amount of work necessary to be competitive. If you're not convinced that you can compete for these few permanent positions, then what's the point at uprooting yourself and your family every few years?

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    The converse is that people might stay an adjunct at a more glamourous institution in the hope of finally bagging not just any old permanent position, but a permanent position at a high ranking/research focused university, rather than taking a non-adjunct position at a lower ranking/teaching focused university.
    – Ian Sudbery
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 15:01
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I do not know about the EU, but in the USA many adjunct faculty are unable to find permanent jobs at universities. Universities are unwilling to offer permanent jobs because they have an adequate supply of cheap adjunct faculty.

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I do not know how you calculated that majority of academics of that faculty work as adjuncts, and I'm not sure it is true, but let me point to a possible source of confusion: "adiunkt" is a Polish word that means (roughly speaking) assistant professor, and has nothing to do with English adjunct professor.

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    It could also be simply a measurement misunderstading. If each adjunct gives 1h of lecture a year, and they only take 20% of lectures a year, its would probably mean that there would be more adjuncts than full time professors, but it would not mean what I think OP suggests, which is that most lecturing hours are given by adjuncts.
    – Ander Biguri
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 16:17
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    In the US adjuncts have been a majority for many years.
    – Anonymous Physicist
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 16:58
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    @AnonymousPhysicist, a majority of what, exactly?
    – Buffy
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 19:02
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    @Buffy Faculty. As it says in the first sentence of the answer.
    – Anonymous Physicist
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 21:25
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    @Buffy I did not confuse those things. We have had this conversation too many times already.
    – Anonymous Physicist
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 21:32

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