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Is Weizmann Institute the Best International Placeto Work for Academics?
According to the US-based The Scientist magazine, "The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, comes out on top of our annual survey for the best academic institutions to work outside of the United States. The strength of the institution, says president Ilan Chet, is collaboration between Weizmann's five main faculties: mathematics and computer science, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and physics.
The systems biology and biological physics programs, for example, combine many of these fields, as does the DNA-based nanocomputers recently developed there. And the Institute gives researchers the freedom to explore these options, in part by minimizing teaching obligations. "We have only graduate students, so we teach only several hours a year," Rony Seger, a professor in the biological regulation department, writes in an E-mail.
The Institute also encourages its members to collaborate outside its bounds, according to Seger. "We receive each year a very generous traveling fund," he writes. "So we (and our students) have no problem staying in touch with laboratories in the US or in Europe, and to attend conferences."
When they are not abroad, says Chet, the campus setting is a major factor in making Weizmann a great place to work for many of its 2,100 scientists. "It's a very quite and peaceful environment," he says. Seger agrees, calling the campus "one of the nicest gardens in Israel." The Institute provides members with housing for six years until tenure, then three more following tenure. In their off time, they can attend the student theater or visit the recreation center, which according to Seger has a nice swimmingpool and is cheap to join.
One area in which the Institute could improve is the number of lab personnel, says Seger. "We need more lab technicians or research assistant professors that can help in the maintenance and day to day management of the laboratories," he writes. But according to Chet, what is most important is the quality of the people at Weizmann..."
"...The respondents to The Scientist's third annual Best Places to Work in Academia survey conveyed a clear message: The people that they work with, the resources at their disposal, and their opportunities for career advancement are the leading factors in determining their satisfaction with their work environment. Researchers from across the United States and abroad more than 2,600 in all rated survey questions relating to peers, research resources, and tenure as the most important, and the institutions that earned high marks in those categories came out on top in this year's rankings."
The survey clearly could not envision many of the issues of specific Weizmann relevance, such as the Institute non-efficiency in bed distribution for visitors (see MyRehovot 10 Nov. 2005), administrative prohibition to apply for certain grants and many other instances of corruption (see MyRehovot/ru of 25 May 2005 and 4 June 2005). These questions could well delete Rehovot major academic center from the 2005 list of Best International Places to Work in Academia.
Source: Maria W. Anderson, Ishani Ganguli. Biobusiness: Best Places to Work in Academia, 2005. Find out whether your institution ranked among the best in The Scientist's annual survey. The Scientist Vol.19(21): 39 (7 November 2005) [FullText].
The systems biology and biological physics programs, for example, combine many of these fields, as does the DNA-based nanocomputers recently developed there. And the Institute gives researchers the freedom to explore these options, in part by minimizing teaching obligations. "We have only graduate students, so we teach only several hours a year," Rony Seger, a professor in the biological regulation department, writes in an E-mail.
The Institute also encourages its members to collaborate outside its bounds, according to Seger. "We receive each year a very generous traveling fund," he writes. "So we (and our students) have no problem staying in touch with laboratories in the US or in Europe, and to attend conferences."
When they are not abroad, says Chet, the campus setting is a major factor in making Weizmann a great place to work for many of its 2,100 scientists. "It's a very quite and peaceful environment," he says. Seger agrees, calling the campus "one of the nicest gardens in Israel." The Institute provides members with housing for six years until tenure, then three more following tenure. In their off time, they can attend the student theater or visit the recreation center, which according to Seger has a nice swimmingpool and is cheap to join.
One area in which the Institute could improve is the number of lab personnel, says Seger. "We need more lab technicians or research assistant professors that can help in the maintenance and day to day management of the laboratories," he writes. But according to Chet, what is most important is the quality of the people at Weizmann..."
"...The respondents to The Scientist's third annual Best Places to Work in Academia survey conveyed a clear message: The people that they work with, the resources at their disposal, and their opportunities for career advancement are the leading factors in determining their satisfaction with their work environment. Researchers from across the United States and abroad more than 2,600 in all rated survey questions relating to peers, research resources, and tenure as the most important, and the institutions that earned high marks in those categories came out on top in this year's rankings."
The survey clearly could not envision many of the issues of specific Weizmann relevance, such as the Institute non-efficiency in bed distribution for visitors (see MyRehovot 10 Nov. 2005), administrative prohibition to apply for certain grants and many other instances of corruption (see MyRehovot/ru of 25 May 2005 and 4 June 2005). These questions could well delete Rehovot major academic center from the 2005 list of Best International Places to Work in Academia.
Source: Maria W. Anderson, Ishani Ganguli. Biobusiness: Best Places to Work in Academia, 2005. Find out whether your institution ranked among the best in The Scientist's annual survey. The Scientist Vol.19(21): 39 (7 November 2005) [FullText].
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