Travel The World, They Said

It is perhaps a truism in academia that international experience is, if not usually formally required, something that is seen favourably in the jobs market. At the very least, not having at least moved around within the same country will generally be looked at slightly askance. But why? What’s the point? I’ve done it myself, sure, but is there really a need to? One of my friends pointed this out, and I’ve thought about it a bit, and, as usual when that happens, I’ve written it all down on the internet, because I’m self-conceited enough to think that my thoughts are uniquely interesting to the whole world.

So, anyway, the reasons usually adduced for the desirability of some sort of academic stint abroad are something along the lines of enlarging your network, working with top people in your field wherever they might be located, and learning about different approaches and techniques. Essentially, it all boils down to the old saw: ‘travel broadens the mind’. While I think this is true, and that living abroad can be something immensely personally enriching and valuable, from an academic point of view, you can pretty much achieve all this with some extended research visits. Go spend 1-3 months somewhere, learn some stuff, get to know some new people, you’ve achieved all the things you’re supposed to get from doing a PhD or postdoc abroad. You can even do it two or three times within the same contract period. And, crucially, without incurring all the costs associated with living abroad: literally, the financial costs of moving your stuff internationally, but also the more figurative costs of being constantly in administrative hell, being a long way from friends and family, the mental fatigue of having to learn/operate in a new language, and what I am sure will, at some point, be a ginormous pensions clusterfuck when I have to prove to the relevant country that I have worked for plenty of years, just not in their system, and that I’m therefore entitled to their state pension, and try to consolidate my 5 (and counting) pensions across 3 (and counting) countries into one easily accessible pittance[1]. I could go on: the point is that moving and living abroad is not necessarily entirely straightforward nor a permanent bed of roses. Neither is it all that necessary: I know at least two people who have secured permanent academic positions in the UK without working abroad, though they have moved within the UK.

So why does academia have this mobility totem? It’s certainly important to have not done your entire career in one place, just to show that you have a certain degree of openness and flexibility, but you can do that whilst remaining in one country. So, no matter how much everyone pretends that’s why you should do it, that’s not it. The real reason, I think, is a bit more unpalatable: it’s because it gives you a much higher chance of being able to survive in academia long enough to obtain some sort of permanent position. As soon as you constrain yourself by saying ‘I want to live here’ for a value of here smaller than a continent, you drastically reduce your chances of the right job coming up at the right time and allowing you to continue in academic employment without those annoying months-to-years-long gaps of unemployed indigency that will result in 0 conferences, 0 publications and 0 academic credit unless you have plenty of cash stashed away. Which you won’t, because you’re an academic and don’t earn enough[2]. Both of my postdocs were the result of me taking an opportunity when it came along; had I refused either on the basis I didn’t want to move country, the list of alternatives was not lengthy. Of course, it’s always possible that you get lucky and can beg, borrow or browbeat a job out of someone in your preferred location, but it makes life a lot harder and more uncertain. Whereas if you’re prepared to up sticks and bounce around a bit, you can take advantage of anything that crops up. Sure, the chance is still fairly low in any one place, but if we assume each potential department is an independent random job generator, there’s a pretty decent chance of something coming up within the necessary timeframe once n>10.

But it looks bad if you tell aspirant academics that it’s movement or unemployment, so we dress it up in all this ostentatious tosh about how amazing an opportunity it is to live abroad, sweep under the carpet the very real costs prolonged international uncertainty generates[3] and carry on as if nothing’s wrong. This may not be sustainable in the long term, but that’s not precisely an unusual feature in modern society….

[1] If anyone knows of a reputable financial advisor who can deal with this sort of thing, hit me up, because this is one problem I am highly motivated to pay someone else to deal with. Life’s too short to spend it on the phone to a succession of bored French people who bounce you all over the place, but never to anyone who actually knows what’s going on. And now the move to Germany is confirmed, we can increase this to 6 pensions across 4 countries.

[2] Pace any independently wealthy academics. Yes, all three of you.

[3] The worst bit is that you very rarely get any help. In the private sector or in government, if your employer makes you move or you accept a job abroad that requires you to move, you usually get all sorts of logistical and administrative support, some amount of financial compensation for the costs you incur, at least one administrative contact who speaks your language, and a general leg-up on how to go about your new life. In academia, if you’re lucky, the university will have some sort of housing register that you can desperately scroll through from 500 miles away as you try to find somewhere to live that isn’t an utter shithole in the stabby part of town based on zero local knowledge, and there might be one admin person who speaks more than one language and isn’t entirely incompetent. Otherwise, you’re on your own. What do you mean, you need some documents from us to prove that you’re a real person so that you can do something as self-indulgent as open a bank account so we can pay you and you won’t starve to death?! How dare you presume so forwardly!