SURVEY OF POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS AT MIT – 2003
(Unweighted Data)
In order to better understand the needs of the postdoctoral community
at MIT, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President
for Research, with help from the Advisory Council of Postdoctoral Scholars,
sponsored a survey of the current MIT postdoctoral population. An email
message was sent to 857 postdoctoral scholars inviting them to participate
in the survey, which was run between May 19 through June 15, 2003. Below
is a summary of the responses. The full survey with responses is appended
separately.
Number of Respondents: 296 (35% of the postdoctoral population)
Respondents are from:
47% from School of Science
37% from School of Engineering
11% from VP for Research
5% from other areas (Architecture, Humanities, Sloan and unknown)
OVERALL SATISFACTION:
83% are satisfied/very satisfied with their overall postdoctoral experience
at MIT. 5% are somewhat dissatisfied or not satisfied with their experience,
and 12% are neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
84% would recommend or enthusiastically recommend a postdoctoral position
in their field to a present graduate student
79% would recommend or enthusiastically recommend a postdoctoral position
at MIT to a present graduate student.
THE POSTDOCTORAL APPOINTMENT:
71% are postdoctoral associates
28% are postdoctoral fellows
1%– unknown
and had held postdoctoral appointments (past and present):
67% for less than 2 years
25% between 2-4 years
8% for 4 or more years
66% work more than 50 hours per week
28% work between 40 and 49 hours per week
6% work less than 40 hours (NOTE: not known whether these are full time
or part-time appointments)
19% earn $31,000 or less in their postdoctoral position
52% earn between $31,001 - $40,000
18% earn between $40-45K
11% earn more than $45K
SERVICES:
46% are not aware at all of the career guidance services offered by the
Office of Career Planning and Pre-professional Advising but
84% think that it is somewhat important to extremely important to have
these services
63% are not aware at all of the mediation/grievance procedures available
to them but
71% think it is somewhat important to extremely important to have these
services
TRAINING AND EDUCATION:
Top 4 reasons for choosing current postdoctoral position (chosen by >50%):
postdoctoral training is a necessary step to getting employment in
the field
to gain additional training in different field from doctoral research
to gain additional training in their field
to work at MIT because of its academic reputation
69% were satisfied or very satisfied with amount of contact with supervisor
and
70% were satisfied/very satisfied with mentoring received from their supervisor
80% feel that their interactions with other MIT faculty (aside from their
direct supervisor) were important to very important/essential, while 34%
had contact only once or twice a year, 26% had no contact with other MIT
faculty, and 40% had contact ranging from 1-3 times per month to several
times per week
71% thought performance evaluations were or probably were important but
64% had never received a performance evaluation, written, oral or informal
Over 90% rated the following skills as important to essential in developing
a successful career:
Knowing the latest research techniques
Writing papers for publication
Presenting research results to an audience of peers
Collaborating with other researchers
On the extent to which their current postdoctoral position is enhancing
these skills
91% said from some to quite a bit on knowing the latest research techniques
65% said from some to quite a bit on writing papers for publication
81% said from some to quite a bit on presenting research results to
an audience of peers
78% said from some to quite a bit on collaborating with other researchers
Principal career track goal then and now:
70% had a goal of tenure track faculty (with an emphasis on either research
or teaching) when they began their postdoc and 62% now have that goal
There were slight increases between when they began and now in the numbers
choosing the career goals of researcher in industry, researcher (not faculty)
in academia, and researcher at government agency or national laboratory
The 2 main reasons for changing career track goals were
Difficulty of obtaining desired position
Balancing work and personal life
80% agree or somewhat agree that their present postdoctoral position
is preparing them for their current career goal
POSTDOCTORAL ORGANIZATION:
More than 80% thought it was important/extremely important that an Association
of Postdoctoral Scholars:
Help provide more career services to postdocs
Provide information and referrals to postdocs on benefits and rights
DEMOGRAPHICS:
65% are married or living with long-term partners, and of these
78% of the spouses/partners work outside of the home
24% have dependent children
Of those who have dependent children,
59% are satisfied or very satisfied with their child care situation
41% are neutral or dissatisfied/very dissatisfied with their childcare
situation
| |
Survey Respondents (296) |
Total Postdoctoral Population (908) |
| Gender: |
|
|
| Female |
30% |
27% |
| Male |
70% |
73% |
| |
|
|
| Race: |
|
|
| Caucasian |
63% |
64% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander |
27% |
27% |
| Hispanic |
3% |
3% |
| Black |
>1% |
2% |
| Unknown |
6% |
4 % |
| |
|
|
| U.S. Citizen: |
|
|
| Yes |
30% |
36% |
| No |
68% |
64% |
| Unknown |
2% |
|
| |
|
|
| Age: |
|
|
| 29 or younger |
23% |
26% |
| 30-35 years old |
66% |
63% |
| 36-39 years old |
7% |
6% |
| >40 years old |
4% |
5% |
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:
What one thing should MIT consider doing to enhance the community
for postdocs while they are at MIT? There were 119 responses.
Top five topics were
More social functions [27]
“have social events for postdocs to interact”; “social
interaction with postdocs and faculty”; “organize more
postdoc activities or seminars”; “reduce the isolation”
Benefits related (i.e. better benefits for fellows) [19]
“Treat postdocs under fellowships the same as those paid by
MIT”;“make benefits for postdoctoral associates and fellows
the same – people with their own fellowships should not be punished
for bringing in their own money”, “it all comes down to
benefits. The lack of subsidized child care, dental and retirement
plans gives the postdoc the feeling he is not a part of MIT.”
Establishing a postdoc Office or Association, including more
info on resources for postdocs and better orientation [14]
“provide resources, perhaps an office specific for postdocs
and our issues”; “provide information to new postdocs
regarding Boston, life at MIT, housing, medical insurance, etc.”;
“organized info for incoming postdocs”
Salary related (i.e. higher salaries and publicized rates)
[11]
“increase the salary, it is just enough to survive”;
publish recommended minimum postdoctoral salary guidelines for MIT,
following Stanford’s example;, “since they work so hard,
increase their salaries significantly, so they don’t have to
think about finances much”
Housing related (i.e. providing low cost housing) [10]
“make postdoc housing available”; provide more housing
opportunities at affordable rates on or off campus for postdocs”
What one thing should MIT consider doing to enhance your career
opportunities? (There were 100 responses.)
8 mentioned teaching:
“have more opportunities for postdocs to teach”
8 mentioned grant writing:
“short courses on grant writing”
4 asked for job fairs
also typical responses were:
“opportunities to attend career guidance talks and provide
some sort of counseling service”
“specialized career services and workshops with non-academic
partners to help pursue jobs outside academia”
View pdf of Survey Results
MIT postdocs homepage
|
