The postdoc 'big mac plus' index
Which university in Europe has the best postdoc package? In other words, which university is perhaps 'undervalued'? This blog considers salary, cost of living, life satisfaction and uni reputation.
With many of my friends heading to the (European) academic job market, the question often comes up: which university is the most attractive for a postdoc? Bets have been placed and it’s now it’s time to balance the books.
Let’s start with pure money concerns. Which uni gives most bucks for bang? Blue places are the most attractive. If the salary to cost of living ratio is what matters to you, you should definitely choose Germany (not Munich though) and Austria.
And here is the bottom and top 5. Let’s go Salzburg and Innsbruck! Definitely room for improvement for London… has someone already mentioned that they should fix their housing market???
Yet, money is not everything. Let’s account for something one can also consider rather important: life satisfaction. Money doesn’t make happy right? (note that the ratio is simply calculated by multiplying income by life satisfaction and dividing by cost of living). Still Salzburg and Innsbruck are topping it. We have a new last place (perhaps the rain does matter!): Trinity college Dublin and University of Dublin.
Yet, my friends argue that they do not choose universities based on these considerations per se, reputation also matters! So, let’s take the previous index and multiply it by the reputation, to get our ultimate top 10.
Okay, maps are superior;) So, here is the ultimate map. Do note the many missing values.
That’s it for now. The key-take away? Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands seem to be best choices for your postdoc! Of course I should caveat that everyone values other things and there are stark differences among disciplines. Also, this doesn’t consider the likelihood of making a good academic career in these countries. Permanent positions still seem to be rather rare (especially in the countries topping my list). I promise I’ll add this next time!
As always, check my Github for all the code to replicate this:)
Perhaps tricky to quantify this, but I think one's country of origin plays a key role. For instance, as an Arab, I would only apply/consider Amsterdam and Lausanne from your top 10 list.
But then if you are German, then an extremely dull place like Basel might still seem like an attractive option given its proximity to Germany and relatively higher salaries.