Activities and Attitudes of Retired University Staff

A national sample of 1662 academic and academic related university staff, who had retired 3-5 years earlier, completed a postal survey about their current employment, research, other academic activities, and the academic resources available to them, and about their attitudes to retirement, and the extent of their leisure, voluntary, and other caring activities. Over two-thirds of academics and four-fifths of academic related staff had retired early. Younger staff were more often currently employed, but the employment rate amongst academics aged 66-73 was very much greater than in the general population. The extent of research and other academic activities was related to university rank rather than age, with professors and readers more committed, and less involved in leisure activities. The most frequent reasons for early retirement were dissatisfaction with changes in the universities and financial inducements. The majority said they were more contented because of retiring, and most would not have wanted to retire later than they did, but concerns were expressed about the failure of universities to give adequate status and resources to retired academics. There was some evidence that women were discriminated against in retirement.