This dissertation investigates early academic career structure reform that aims to make academic careers more secure, and in particular, why many academic career structures remain relatively stable despite the implementation of these reform policies.
Various governments throughout Europe currently endeavor to make early academic careers more secure for researchers, because of the argument that attractive academic careers are critical for the growth and maintenance of productive research sectors. However, it can be argued that European academic career structures remain relatively steadfast despite these reform policies.
In order to understand the endurance of academic career structures in the face of reform, this project examines the case of the tenure-track positions that were implemented in Norway in 2015.
Using institutional work theory, this dissertation aims to understand the role of various actors in this policy implementation process and how their institutional work around the policy shapes the early academic career structure.
Through the lens of this institutional work, this project will illuminate some of the context behind the institutionalization of the academic career structure in Norway, which in turn can contribute to a better understanding of how to implement policies to make academic career structures more secure.
Supervisor: Tone Alm Andreassen (OsloMet)
Co-supervisor: Mari Elken (University of Oslo)
