Project Outline
What Is a Tenure Track System?
A tenure track system is a career path option for young researchers at their early career development stage: they are employed through fair and transparent selections and encouraged to establish their career as independent researchers under a fixed-term employment contract. They will be promoted to a permanent employment position after successful evaluation.
What Is the Program to Disseminate Tenure Tracking System?
The Program to Disseminate Tenure Tracking System is a subsidiary project for cultivating talent in the fields of science and technology, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The project provides support with universities and other educational institutions to create research environments where young researchers can engage in their independent research activities under the tenure track system. The support provided includes research funds for research activities conducted independently by tenure track faculty as Principal Investigator.
Tohoku University has supported two researchers in Graduate School of Medicine and Graduate School of Engineering, respectively, since 2011 under the support program.
Japan Science and Technology Program to Disseminate Tenure Tracking System (Japanese only)
Initiatives Taken to Date
Tohoku University implemented the Program for Exploring Advanced Interdisciplinary Frontiers with the support of the Special Coordination Fund for Promoting Science and Technology "Improvement of Research Environment for Young Researchers" program from 2006 to 2010.
In this program, the divisions of Engineering, Life Science, and Biomedical Engineering were selected as model tenure track departments. The goal of the program was to support a group of young talent to develop to become competitive world-class pioneers of cutting-edge new research areas by the merger of engineering and life science. In addition, the tenure track system program was implemented as a pilot project under the university-wide Program for Improvement of Research Environment for Young Researchers, and under the leadership of the university president, the Tenure Track Promotion Office was established as an engine to promote the tenure track system. The Office was led by the Executive Vice President, Research, and its main role is to function as a hub to cover the entire university and coordinate with the model departments.
The implementation of this program enabled us to obtain expertise in the design of a tenure track system, from the recruitment of tenure track faculty to final evaluation. As a result, internal university regulations have been formulated, which cover the whole tenure track process, from recruitment to final evaluation, and thus, a sustainable tenure track system was established.
| Materials Used at Time of Selection | Outline |
Selection Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Interim Evaluation | Progress Report |
Evaluation Results |
| Post-Completion Evaluation | Progress Report |
Evaluation Results |