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An ever-increasing weight of criticism is being levelled by student opinion against lifelong appointments to university posts Do you think this current of opinion is correct?

Yes. Although I recognise the high academic and personal standards of the teaching body in this country, I prefer the free contract system. I think that this system does no financial harm to the member of staff and that it is an incentive for him never to give up research or progress in his speciality. Also, it prevents people from understanding university appointments as fiefs, rather than as positions of service.

I realise that the system of permanent university appointments may give good results in some countries, and that within this system you can find very competent men who turn their appointments into a very real service to the university. But I consider that the free contract system makes those cases more frequent and helps to stimulate all professors to dedicate all their energies to the service of the university.

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