SQ and I discussed faculty positions in the UK over dinner. He described academic positions from lecturers to professors as permanent ranks. It is totally different from the US system. The UK government makes periodical assessment of academic achievements by universities, especially about research output, such as publication, fund raising, patent grants. However, stable positions surely give loyalty to respective institutes to which researchers belong.

In Japan, the government pushes a strange tenure system that does not offer the US tenure professorship but a limited-term position until 65 years old after completing a five-year-tenure-track assistant professorship. Such a system is very unstable and the more brilliant researchers hate it and go out for better positions abroad. Why nobody criticizes such a stupid measure? I really hate Japan's irrational way of public intervention to academia.