tenure and other issues for country-hopping professionals
Hiya. I'm in my fourth year of my PhD at a UK university, which means I don't get any more funding and I have to hand in by September. (I could theoretically enter the job market now, but the advice I've been getting from my supervisor and my peers who are a few years ahead of me is to get the damn thing written and handed in, and then go on the job market. I'm in a competitive field (English lit), and if you've several dozen applications for one post, tossing aside all of those which don't have a completed PhD is the easy way to slim down the pile.) I have done a handful of applications, but as none of them has come to anything, I've decided to concentrate on finishing my thesis and re-enter the academic job market next spring when I have letters both before and after my name.
I'm more interested in working in the UK and Irish sector than in North America, but that might be something that changes at a later date. Which brings me to my question: can anyone give me a brief rundown of how tenure and tenure-track positions work, particularly amongst people who are moving either from North America to Europe, or vice versa? In the places I'm familiar with, you either get a fixed-term position, or a permanent position. As far as I can tell, you aren't a permanent member of staff at a US university until you've got tenure, which could be twenty years or more after you've started working at a university with your PhD.
Does the tenure system apply in both Canada and the US, or just the US? What happens to people who move around within that system, or who move into it from outside? Would a European with a PhD and, say, five years teaching and a good research record be appointed at a tenured level, or to a tenure-track position, or would that entirely depend on how much the institution wanted them? For those who leave the tenure system before getting tenure, do they go back in at the same level, or in at a higher level, or does it, again, depend?
(I'd also be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of juggling pension schemes as they move from one country to another, whether in academic jobs or non-academic ones. I'm currently looking for non-academic jobs in Ireland at the moment, although I'll probably end up long term working in the UK, but I don't really want to wait until I'm back there before I start a pension. I also already have a year's contributions to the UPP scheme - that is, the superannuation scheme for British academics. Thoughts?)
I'm more interested in working in the UK and Irish sector than in North America, but that might be something that changes at a later date. Which brings me to my question: can anyone give me a brief rundown of how tenure and tenure-track positions work, particularly amongst people who are moving either from North America to Europe, or vice versa? In the places I'm familiar with, you either get a fixed-term position, or a permanent position. As far as I can tell, you aren't a permanent member of staff at a US university until you've got tenure, which could be twenty years or more after you've started working at a university with your PhD.
Does the tenure system apply in both Canada and the US, or just the US? What happens to people who move around within that system, or who move into it from outside? Would a European with a PhD and, say, five years teaching and a good research record be appointed at a tenured level, or to a tenure-track position, or would that entirely depend on how much the institution wanted them? For those who leave the tenure system before getting tenure, do they go back in at the same level, or in at a higher level, or does it, again, depend?
(I'd also be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of juggling pension schemes as they move from one country to another, whether in academic jobs or non-academic ones. I'm currently looking for non-academic jobs in Ireland at the moment, although I'll probably end up long term working in the UK, but I don't really want to wait until I'm back there before I start a pension. I also already have a year's contributions to the UPP scheme - that is, the superannuation scheme for British academics. Thoughts?)