Hungarian Academics Working Abroad: Female and Male Career Paths Cover Image

Magyar kutatók külföldön: a női és férfi karrierutak főbb jellemzői
Hungarian Academics Working Abroad: Female and Male Career Paths

Author(s): Hajnalka Fényes, Veronika Paksi, Katalin Tardos, Valéria Markos, Fruzsina Szigeti
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Debreceni Egyetem Politikatudományi és Szociológiai Intézet
Keywords: PhD degree; international mobility; migration of the highly qualified; career; gender equality; work-lif

Summary/Abstract: Transnational mobility has not only become an integral part of the successful, internatonally driven career path of academics, but is emerging to a great extent as a major performance requirement. Similarly to academic careers in general, international mobility of researchers is also a gendered process to a great extent. This paper aims to assess the most important characteristics of Hungarian researchers working abroad with special attention put on the similarities and differences identified in the career path of female and male researchers. With an online self-administered questionnaire distributed through a snowball sampling methodology among Hungarian PhD-holders working abroad for more than one year, we investigated the motivation for international mobility, the career path, work contracts, work-life balance, future career plans and the perception of the value of the PhD degree. Our key findings indicate that male researchers’s labour market position is more advantageous abroad than female researchers’ and overall they are more convinved of the positive value of their PhD degree, while female academics were statisfied, but at a more moderate level.

  • Issue Year: 9/2020
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 23-48
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Hungarian