Union steps up campaign over short-term contracts

The Association of University Teachers Scotland is geared up to put "irresistible pressure" on higher education institutions to give contract researchers better job security, writes Olga Wojtas.

The AUTS will next week launch a major job security campaign, invoking support from Scottish lifelong learning minister Iain Gray, who made improved management of contract researchers a priority for the coming year.

He expects there will be "reliable information" on contract researchers from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council by the end of March.

He wants to see evidence of institutions' "commitment to good practice in the management of human resources, including developing academic and non-academic staff and reducing, as far as possible, the use of short-term contracts".

The AUTS will launch its campaign in Edinburgh on Monday at a meeting for researchers.