Academic Career Mobility: Career Advancement, Transnational Mobility and Gender Equity

This study explores how policy discourses on academic career are articulated in Swedish higher education. Discourses on academic career are often expressing meritocracy and the necessity of competition, but also include demands for flexibility and global participation. Recent decades of higher education policy have also stressed the importance of gender equity, which is particularly evident in the Nordic countries. Yet, how these discourses interact and impact on contemporary ideas on academic career remains unclear. We analyse a selection of Swedish government bills to explore present policy discourses on academic career mobility, and how these discourses express and create tensions for different staff groups. The findings shows that the notion, and promotion of career mobility in Swedish higher education features tensions between career advancement, transnational mobility and work life stability. It is also clear that some scholars are defined as more career mobile and successful than others. Hence, discourses on career mobility tend to give legitimacy to already existing work divisions and hierarchies partly undermining gender equity. In conclusion, our findings show tensions and contradictions in these policies, which give base for further nuanced and critical discussions on the current conditions and possibilities in Swedish higher education and academic career.