Photo/Illutration The University of Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Diet has passed a bill to establish a 10-trillion-yen ($78.43 billion) fund to distribute investment profits to universities the government recognizes as “excellent” to help them enhance research abilities.

The Diet deliberations on the bill offered no clue to the question of whether the initiative can produce the expected results.

Separately, a disturbing reality that university researchers are facing has come to light.

Employment contracts could soon be terminated for hundreds of researchers at national universities.

A rule allows researchers with fixed-term contracts to demand their employers switch their status to permanent researchers when the period of their employment passes 10 years. It will soon be 10 years since this rule was applied.

National universities are struggling to finance their operations as the government has cut subsidies under a strategy of concentrating limited fiscal resources on selected areas in recent years.

Concerns are growing that many researchers with fixed-term contracts may lose their jobs before the period of their employment reaches 10 years as the universities try to limit the number of permanent employees to be added to their payrolls.

There are 3,099 such researchers at national universities, according to a survey by the education ministry.

Of the total, 1,672 were hired under contracts that explicitly placed a 10-year limit on the period of their employment.

A 10-year limit is also included in the contracts for 317 researchers at research and development institutions under the ministry’s supervision.

While many are believed to be young science researchers, researchers in the social sciences and liberal arts are facing the same fate.

Not all of them are facing the immediate risk of losing their jobs. But giving the boot to young researchers would deliver an immeasurable blow to Japanese academic research.

Universities and research institutions should make all-out efforts to keep them on their payrolls.

To protect their jobs, it is vital for the government to provide financial support to their employers.

All workers with fixed-term contracts face the risk of termination of contracts. But the government should pay particular attention to the situation of researchers given its policy priority of boosting the international competitiveness of universities.

Researchers lacking job security due to their fixed-term contracts tend to choose projects that are expected to quickly produce results and help them secure their next job. They hesitate to tackle challenging projects.

Many scientists have been awarded Nobel prizes for achievements they made while they were young.

This underscores the importance of providing an environment that encourages young researchers to think outside the box and tackle projects without having to worry about their jobs.

When it passed the bill to promote research at universities with the investment fund, the Diet adopted a supplementary resolution calling for increased subsidies to national universities, which can be used for personnel expenses.

An aim is to increase the number of researchers with job security and staff members in permanent positions.

Skeptics say if more researchers acquire permanent positions, the incentives for competition will lessen, which threatens the progress of research and the mobility of human resources.

But researchers’ achievements are subject to rigorous evaluation both within and outside universities. Job mobility is unlikely to be lost.

What should be most worrying is talented students shying away from pursuing research careers. In fact, the number of students taking doctoral courses has been on a steady decline.

The quality and competitiveness of research will not improve unless more researchers have job security.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 21

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