Insight into postdoctoral position in Tunisia: situation, challenges, and opportunities

The present work aims to present an overview of the postdoctoral position in general and to analyze the situation in Tunisia. An online questionnaire was designed to collect an in-depth review of the common challenges faced by PhD holders and those engaged in postdoctoral positions. PhD holders are dominated by females (72.20%). 65.18% of the participants are older than 35 years. 55% of PhD holders have accomplished at least one postdoctoral position. 43% of postdocs having accomplished a teaching activity estimated that this experience is highly beneficial. 52.5% of postdocs are satisfied or rather satisfied with their work environment. The most reported deliverables of postdocs are scientific publications and teaching materials. More than three-quarters of the PhD holders feel being in a precarious situation because of career uncertainty and low salary. Most PhD holders prefer to have an academic career and they are predisposed to have a position in the private sector and are in favor of creating other formal positions namely project manager and research engineer.