End the 'jobs for life' culture.

The article reports on the need for universities to offer staff contracts that depend on their performances and their institution's income, according to a paper by Leeds University in England. Permanent lectureship poses inflexibility that makes universities less adaptable to changing research and funding conditions. Louise Ackers, professor of European law at Leeds, suggested a system that improves the status of those on fixed-term research-only contracts by putting academics on industry-style contracts. The Association of University Teachers has campaigned to end temporary contracts for university staff since 2002.