General Rules
- Staff must contribute to teaching, research or both.
- Staff must have performed these functions at your university for a minimum period of at least three months.
- Staff who are offshore, part of an exchange programme, or visiting the institution should be excluded.
- All students, regardless of their additional responsibilities, should be excluded.
Faculty for the purpose of the QS World University Rankings indicators includes all staff involved in the teaching and/or research mission of the University.
Where academic employment function of a member of staff is specialised and the academic contract of employment clearly delineated according to either teaching or research (or both) – all employment functions should be included with no exception.
Senior manager academics (academic members of the senior management team – e.g., Vice-Chancellor, Rector, Provost, Pro-Vice-Chancellor) and middle manager academics (e.g., Deans, Associate Deans, Heads of Department) should be included.
Exclusions
Hospital residents who do not teach and/or undertake research in addition to clinical duties are excluded.
Graduate teaching assistants or any registered students who may have teaching or research duties (e.g., as part of their PhD scholarship duties) are excluded.
Staff who hold an honorary appointment are excluded (e.g., Emeritus and Visiting Professors).
Professional services staff are excluded (e.g., staff working primarily in student recruitment, student admissions, university partnerships and the international office, academic support, student experience officers, research support staff, IT staff, digital learning staff and programme administrators) – to be understood as those staff in administrative or managerial roles that are not involved in the delivery of teaching or the production of knowledge through research.
Registered students who perform teaching and/or research duties are excluded (e.g., Graduate Teaching Assistant).
While it is important to acknowledge the teaching and research contribution of students, especially postgraduate research students that may support the University's teaching mission and provide research assistance to faculty, they are excluded partly because they are already included in the student count, and to avoid duplication. Where applicable, only registered students who also have an employment contract with the University and have the full rights and obligations of employees may be counted (based on FTE).
Regional variations
In the UK, all roles part of the “Education & Research” family should be included. This should be understood to include all roles that combine elements of research, teaching, leadership or management but the relative emphasis and the nature of the contribution may vary.
As per the HESA nomenclature, this includes all staff on so-called “teaching only” contracts, all staff on “research only” contracts and all staff on “teaching and research” contracts, regardless of mode of employment and term of employment, calculated by FTE.
Similarly in Australia, faculty can include a variety of academic staff involved in either teaching-only, research-only, or staff with a “combined teaching and research function”. In the Australian system, function is understood as a general type of work which a staff member has agreed to undertake in respect of their current duties. These can be delineated as follows:
- Teaching only function: Duties involve only teaching and associated activities or the management and leadership of teaching staff and of staff who support teaching staff. There is no formal requirement that research be undertaken.
- Research only function: Duties involve undertaking only research work or providing technical or professional research assistance, or the management and leadership of research staff and of staff who support research staff. There may be limited other work (e.g. participation in the development of postgraduate courses and supervision of postgraduate students).
- Teaching and research function: A formal requirement is that both a teaching function and a research function will be undertaken, or the work requires the management and leadership of teaching staff and research staff and persons who support such staff.
Where a system of nationally recognised academic professional titles is in operation, as in China, faculty staff whose primary role is teaching in universities and colleges and fall under this professional title system should be included.
For reference, Article 47 of the Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China states that a system of professional titles is applied nationally to recognized faculty and includes the following: “The professional titles of teachers include teaching assistant, lecturer, associate professor and professor”. Research personnel and research-focused staff not falling within the scope of Article 47 but directly employed by and affiliated with a university (e.g. Research Fellow) should also be included in the Faculty count.
Includes
Education and Research Staff
Staff involved in the teaching and/or research mission of the University. Where the academic employment function of a member of staff is specialised and the academic contract of employment clearly delineated according to either teaching or research (or both) all employment functions should be included with no exception.
Example titles:
- Professor
- Jiàoshòu
- Reader
- Senior Lecturer
- Lecturer
- Jiǎngshī
- Maître de conférences
- Senior Research Fellow
- Principal Research Fellow
- Research Fellow
- Research Associate
- Teaching Fellow
- Clinical Director
- Clinical Consultant
- Clinical Lecturer
- Dental Lecturer
Senior Manager Academics
Academic members of the senior management team
Example titles:
- Vice-Chancellor
- Rector
- Provost
- Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Middle Manager Academics
Academic members of the wider management team
Example titles:
- Dean
- Deputy Dean
- Associate Dean
- Head of School or Department
- Deputy Head of School or Department
Excludes
Technical Staff
Technical staff who support research functions but do not undertake research.
- Technical Manager
- Senior Technician
- Laboratory Technician
- Engineering Apprentice
- Laboratory Assistant
Registered Students
Undergraduate or postgraduate students who may perform ad hoc teaching and/or research duties.
Example titles:
- Graduate Teaching Assistant
- PhD students
Hospital Residents (non-academic)
Residents who do not teach and/or undertake research in addition to clinical duties are excluded.
Example titles:
- Resident Doctors
- Registrar
- Consultant
- Medical Officer
Honorary Appointments
Staff who hold an honorary appointment at an institution.
Example titles:
- Emeritus Professors
- Visiting Professors
- Honorary Fellows
Professional Services Staff
Staff in administrative or managerial roles that are not involved in the delivery of teaching or the production of knowledge through research.
Example
- Academic Support
- Administrator
- Careers Adviser
- Catering
- Departmental Coordinator
- Digital Learning
- Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter
- Facilities
- Finance and Accounts
- Health and Safety
- Housekeeper
- HR
- International Office
- IT
- Librarian
- Marketing
- Office Supervisor
- Porter
- Programme Administrators
- Research Support Staff
- Retail
- Security
- Sports Coach
- Student Admissions
- Student Experience Officers
- Student Recruitment
- University Partnerships
