>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 00:28:47 +0100 (CET)
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At the source of much of this difference is a cultural one. In Europe, you get your
doctorate and then will typically work towards your habilitation to gain a full
professorship; typically, the habilitation is a major research project defended just a
the thesis was defended.
In the US, there is no habilitation per se. Instead, a university offers a professor
tenure after having proven themselves. "Proving" means that he or she needs to
have made a name for himself/herself. That's typically done through publications
and attendance at conferences. Already the PhD student is strongly encouraged to
publish in major journals and to present at major conferences. The best young PhDs
will then get assistant professorships at the best universities, where they work very
hard hours to make a name for themselves.
An "assitant" or "associate" professor in the US would not be called 'Professor' in
most of Europe. Many universities have a cutoff line by which their professors must
have been awarded tenure (full professorship), about 7 years, otherwise they are
asked to leave.
There are significant variations of this depending on the school and the field.
However, this is the source of much misunderstanding. Many European academics
feel stepped on their toes when an American professor gets a 'seat' at a European
university without 'habilitation'. Conversely, I see the words "selling yourself" and
"shmoozing" in the messages below. These are complex issues, and a thorough
analysis of the landscape on the other side of the pond is a good start to a
successful career move. It avoids many disappointments.
regards
axel merk
On Monday, March 3, 2003, at 12:56 PM, Peter Buerki wrote:
>
> My experience is similar. I have been looking for a assistant professorship in
> chemistry or materials science for over three years, wrote close to hundred
> applications, and never even got an invitation for an interview. Again this was
> mostly because of a lack of US connections and lack of understanding in how to
> "sell yourself" in the USA. I more or less gave up searching in this direction.
>
> Hope you are lucky in your search,
>
> Peter Buerki
"Corinna Grisostomi" <cgrisos_at_fastdial.net> wrote:
>
> I can only give you an advice about US academic carriers in sciences. I am a
> Swiss-chemist and I have done my PhD and Postdoc in the US. I have known few
> Swiss who have gotten an academic job in the US, but
> a) it is much harder for us than for an American and
> b) you need to build up a lot of connections (so called
> shmoozing around) and keep a high profile already during
> your PhD (publish and go to Conferences)
> c) you need to get good references from American Professors.
>
> Of course Americans, who have performed undergrad and grad school in the US
> are much better connected in the US than we Europeans would be, so it needs
> more diplomacy and knowing the right people at the right time for us. I have
> seen several Europeans who did not understand this point and failed because
> of it, which is a pity!
>
> Again, may be it is a little different in Economics.
>
> Good luck with your endeavor,
> Corinna
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Received on Mon Mar 03 2003 - 23:31:13 PST
