Main flows in and out of higher education

The greatest ‘flow’ from other sectors into higher education research occurs at the point of doctoral study – as many as 1 in 4 STEM PhD students are over 30 when they start their programme, and many of them have worked in another sector. Other flows into higher education at later career stages are much, much smaller, reflecting that it can be difficult to ‘get in’ later in a career. This does vary by subject area – a small number of researchers or lecturers may be appointed from industry in areas such as manufacturing, engineering, computing, and drug discovery.

The greatest flow of researchers ‘out’ of higher education is directly after a PhD or other doctoral programme – over half of all doctoral graduates enter careers in sectors other than higher education. That proportion is higher in some subject areas such as engineering and biomedical sciences (for example, into the health sector or drug industry).

There is also a significant, but more gradual, outflow after postdoctoral positions, in some cases because the researcher cannot obtain a permanent academic job in a university. One of Vitae’s research studies specifically focused on this.

‘Temporary’ flows

In order to increase the number of university researchers who have some work experience outside higher education, a number of schemes exist to gain that experience on a temporary basis.

This includes internship programmes for current PhD students (Professional Internships for PhD Students | Cambridge Biosciences BBSRC DTP), some policy or industry fellowships for postdoctoral researchers (UK Research and Innovation Policy Internships 2021-2022 - POST), and more rarely industry exchange or fellowship schemes for lecturers and senior academics (Industry Fellowships | Royal Society).

Of course, some PhD studentships take place directly with an employer in industry not higher education, with that organisation hosting or co-hosting the student (for example, CASE studentships or some Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships, in which there will be a PhD supervisor based in that external organisation).

Some of the schemes in the clinical research pathway within this resource provide exactly this sort of mobility opportunity, bringing health professionals into university to conduct research, but allowing them to resume their clinical career afterwards (or in many cases to continue it alongside research).

Dual positions

Although not common in the UK, an attractive option for some people could be to have a dual position, such as a job in industry and also a part-time lectureship in a university at the same time. In a UK context, this tends to be more common for senior staff such as professors in certain subject areas like engineering (which could arise following an exchange or fellowship scheme). Some of the clinical academic pathway positions are set up as dual positions.

This sort of ‘portfolio’ career structure (i.e. having more than one employer, or working in more than one sector at the same time) is becoming somewhat more common in the broader job market, but requires both positions to be available on a part-time basis. It tends to be more common in areas like the arts, where full-time employment opportunities are more limited so a portfolio may be a necessity for financial reasons. Within universities, some part-time teaching positions may be available to those with a job in an external organisation.