Academic ranks in the Netherlands

Academic ranks in the Netherlands are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. These ranks are mostly limited to scholars holding a position at the Dutch research universities with the position of Lector being the exception at the vocational universities.

Overview

Academic ranks

Dutch title	Literal translation	Pay grade[1]	US equivalent	UK/commonwealth equivalent
Akademiehoogleraar	Academy Professor High teacher of the Academy
Universiteitshoogleraar	University Professor High teacher of the University		Distinguished or University Professor
Hoogleraar	High teacher	H1, H2, 14+extra	Full Professor	Full Professor
Lector (From 2001 onwards only and unique academic rank for University of Applied Science / until 1986 junior full professor at a Dutch university, title abolished in 1986)	Reader	15	Full Professor	Full Professor
Universitair Hoofddocent	University head lecturer	13, 14	Associate professor	Associate professor / Reader
Universitair Docent	University lecturer	11, 12	Assistant professor	University lecturer / senior lecturer
Docent	Lecturer	10	Lecturer	Tutor
Onderzoeker / Postdoc	Researcher, Postdoc	10–11	Researcher	Research fellow / (Post Doctoral) Research Associate
Assistent in Opleiding / Promovendus	Assistant in training	P	Ph.D. candidate	Ph.D. candidate
Onderzoeksassistent	Research assistant	6–9	Research assistant	Research assistant
Student Assistent	Student (enrolled in B.Sc. or M.Sc. program) assistant	SA	Student teaching/research assistant	Student teaching/research assistant

Administrative positions

Dutch title	Description	Length of term	Requirements
Executive board of the university
Voorzitter raad van bestuur	CEO or president of a university	Appointed for fixed 4-year term, which can be renewed	Need not be a professor, can be appointed from outside the organisation
Rector Magnificus	Ceremonial head and head of research and education of a university	Appointed for fixed 4-year term, which can be renewed	Always a full professor, elected from within the sitting professors of the university.
Leden van het college van bestuur	Additional members of the board of a university (e.g. CFO)	Appointed for fixed 4-year term, which can be renewed	Need not be a professor, can be appointed from outside the organisation
Department or Division
Decaan (Dean)	Head of research and education of a faculty	Appointed for fixed 4 year terms, which can be extended	Usually a full professor
Leerstoel houder	Leader of a research group or department (lit: teaching chair holder)	Appointed indefinitely (until mandatory retirement age)	Most commonly a full professor; when she or he retires or leaves, a replacement will be actively sought in an open application procedure.

Professor ranks

Most academic staff will have both research and teaching duties.

The ranking system of faculty with combined teaching and research tasks in Dutch universities is as follows:

• universitair docent 2, abbreviated UD2 (literal translation University lecturer rank 2. Equivalent to UK lecturer, and US assistant professor - pay grade 11)
• universitair docent 1, abbreviated UD1 (literal translation University lecturer rank 1. Equivalent to UK senior lecturer, and US assistant professor - pay grade 12)
• universitair hoofddocent 2, abbreviated UHD2 (literal translation University head lecturer rank 2. Equivalent to UK associate professor / reader, and US associate professor- pay grade 13)
• universitair hoofddocent 1, abbreviated UHD1 (literal translation University head lecturer rank 1. Equivalent to UK associate professor / reader, and US associate professor- pay grade 14)
• hoogleraar 2, or professor (literal translation high teacher rank 2, lowest Dutch academic rank allowed to use the title prof. Equivalent to UK professor, and US full professor - pay grade H2).
• hoogleraar 1, or professor (literal translation high teacher rank 1. Usually department or sub department chair. Equivalent to UK professor, and US full professor - pay grade H1).

In daily practice no distinction is made between rank 1 and 2 in the Dutch ranking system. Each rank increase come with a shift in pay grade. Promotion from rank 2 to rank 1 within the same function is usually easier than moving to a differently named function.

University of applied sciences appoint lectors to coordinate their (applied) research. Like a full professor, a lector coordinates a research group. In contrast to full professors, lectors are not allowed to be principal supervisor of PhD students and are not allowed to use the formal title "professor".

Full professors

A (full) professor should have substantial research achievements and international reputation. The title professor is not protected by Dutch law.

The head of a department or of a "chair-group" within a department is a full professor. After a "chaired" professor leaves university, an open application is usually announced to replace the chair holder.

Personal chairs, are full professors created based on personal achievement but have no formal administrative function in leading a department. Personal chair are becoming increasingly familiar; and are generally promoted from the assistant or associate professor ranks in a department. If a personal chair leaves the chair ceases to exist.

Dutch universities also appoint professors occupying an endowed chair (Dutch: "bijzonder hoogleraar", literally "special professor"), often on a part-time basis.[2] Special professors usually have their main employment somewhere else, often in industry or at a research institute or University elsewhere, although some foundations sponsor a special professor for one of the sitting associate professors. The special professor (bijzonder hoogleraar) does not get paid by the university, but receives a salary from an external organization, such as a company, an organization or a fund. Special (endowed) professors sometimes provide lectures or do research on special topics associated with their main employment. They also often supervise graduate students who may do their research at the place of the professor's main employment.

Some Dutch universities have also instituted University Professorships appointing scientific ambassadors by the university, rather than representing a department. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences can sponsor an established professor to be an Academy Professor. In addition, members of the Royal Academy are selected full professor. Being elected to member of the academy is a high honor for a sitting professor.

When a full professor retires in good standing, the professor becomes professor emeritus. This allows the retired professor to keep the title professor for life. A professor emeritus is allowed to supervise doctorate theses until five years after retirement, but the use of the honorific professor is for life. Professors emeriti have no formal teaching or administrative duties and are paid no salaries (instead they receive pension payment). They are often provided with a desk and will have access to university resources for as long as the person so requests. In any event, professors who move out of the academy or retire in good standing retain the ius promovendi. (see below) for five years thereafter.

Due to the system of part-time special professors and personal chair-holders promoted from sitting staff within a department, many university research groups will have several professors.

In the Netherlands a special right of a full professor has always been the ius promovendi. This means that by Dutch law, any doctoral dissertation must always be supported by a full professor; or in other words the principal supervisor of any PhD project is always a full professor. From 2018 onwards, the law has changed and holder of a position with a research university appointment (effectively an experienced UD or UHD or a (senior) researcher who has a doctorate) is eligible to be main supervisor of a PhD. student.[3] Universities have agreed that only such colleagues with proven capacity to supervise PhD projects will be granted this right (this means in practice that such colleagues have to have research-led profiles and considerable experience in co-supervising research students). Increasingly, Ph.Ds are co-supervised by a UD or UHD, and they are often the regular point of contact for the Ph.D student, particularly in large research groups.

International comparison

Although the ranks are often translated as if they were aligned with the American system (i.e. assistant, associate, and full professor), this not as clear-cut. Traditionally a lecturer could only become associate or full professor by applying for such a position if there was a vacancy. However, Dutch universities are moving towards a system closer to the US tenure track system to have more flexibility in rewarding merits of individuals. In Dutch universities, permanent positions must be offered upon the third extension of fixed-term position or after 6 years of continuous contracts (whichever comes first), a rule which was instigated to avoid permatemp situation.; permanent positions may, of course, be offered sooner. Unlike in the US, the terms Assistant Professor and Associate Professor are not as such indicative of tenure status; the new tenure-track system is actually something of a misnomer as far as exiting staff entrants on the track are concerned; it is an 'up or out' programme whereby very promising staff are put on a pathway of accelerated promotion and accelerated 'jus promovendi' which will, if all the boxes are ticked at the relevant review steps, lead in due course to the person becoming Professor (H2). Someone who was already a tenured member of staff who enters the pathway but who fails to make the grade at the end of the day will revert to their former grade (or remain UHD, as appropriate), or, if she or he was appointed on a tenure-track pathway, will cease to be employed by the University. Confusingly, tenure-track pathway colleagues can be given the title 'Adjunct hoogleraar' (Adjunct Professor), and are for that period Professors in the sense of the Dutch Higher Education Act (and would retain the 'jus promovendi' for five years if they reverted to a lower rank or ceased to be employed by the University); the title of adjunct Professor' in The Netherlands has noting to do with what is meant by that title in the US, where it is used to denote a practitioner or other specialist from outside the Academy who is given the title as a part-time specialist teacher.

In 1986 there was a reform of the system. Junior professors and professors of the agricultural and technology universities, until then labelled as Lector were transformed into full Professors, but as a new Professor A rank at a lower salary scale than the existing professors (who were designated Professor B) on the older, and more favourable, salary scale. The present salary scales refer to Professor 1 or Professor 2 (the former is the higher in standing, as the Universities adopted the Hay criteria for function-ranking). The former title buitengewoon hoogleraar ("professor by special appointment", literally "extraordinary professor")[4] for a part-time professor is no longer used (since the 1986 reforms); all the then holders of such positions became part-time full professors '(gewoon hoogleraren).

In the early 2000s the lector position (Readership in traditional UK terms) was introduced at universities of applied sciences for research group leaders dealing with applied research. Until that moment universities of applied sciences had no research tasks. Based on salary pay grade, lectors would rank between associate and full professor in the research university system.

See also

• List of academic ranks

References

1. http://www.vsnu.nl/files/documenten/CAO/Salarisschalen%20per%201%20feb%202019.pdf
2. "Nuffic Glossary". Nufficglossary.nuffic.nl. Archived from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
3. http://www.uva.nl/content/nieuws/nieuwsberichten/2017/06/eerste-kamer-stemt-in-met-verruiming-%E2%80%98ius-promovendi%E2%80%99.html
4. "Nuffic Glossary". Nufficglossary.nuffic.nl. Archived from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2013-02-24.