/Institutions/University-of-Dubai/json/2024-2025/Policy-and-Procedure-Manual-local.json

/Institutions/University-of-Dubai/json/2024-2025/Policy-and-Procedure-Manual.json

Policy and Procedure Manual 2024-25 > Faculty and Professional Staff > Faculty Role Policy

Faculty Role Policy

Policy

1. Faculty Responsibilities

Assignment of teaching responsibilities must ensure that students in different degree programs and in different educational delivery modes have equivalent exposure to high quality learning experiences. As part of the teaching duties, a faculty member is required to meet the following standards in the course delivery:

1.1 Governance

Faculty are responsible for participating in the governance of the university, including serving on faculty councils, committees, and other bodies as required. Faculty should actively contribute to decision-making processes that affect academic programs, policies, and the overall direction of the university. The detailed roles and responsibilities are outlined in the A1.2 organization Policy. 

1.2 Course Development & Management

1. Develop the course syllabus with clear course objectives and learning outcomes together with an assessment scheme as detailed in EP 3.19 Learning Outcomes Assessment Policy. 

2. Ensure coverage and proper assessment of course learning outcomes. 

3. Evaluate and draw improvement plans on course content, delivery and assessment.

4. Maintain an updated course file in which he/she documents the course materials as outlined in the Course File Management Guidelines. .

5. Cover 45 contact hours of teaching per course as per the course outline. Class sessions lost due to public holidays, graduation ceremonies, etc. must be recuperated through make-up classes but without additional payments. 

6. Designate convenient office hours (one hour weekly per section taught).

1.3 Student Support

 

A. Students’ Participation

The most effective learning takes place when students are involved in their educational experiences. Faculty members should develop techniques and styles that engage students and make them responsible for meeting learning goals. Many pedagogical approaches challenge students through problem-based learning, projects, simulations, etc. Faculty members should find such approaches that are suited to their subject matter and should adopt active learning methodologies.

The UD programs actively involve students in the learning process. The programs should consider the totality of the learning experience (in-class, extracurricular, technology-based, etc.). The following are examples of ways students may be involved in their education: 

• Continuous tutorial support. 
  
• Opportunities for continuous interaction through technology-based learning. 
  
• Mentored reflection on problem-solving. 
  
• A pervasive commitment to two-way, interactive discussions for instruction. 

 

B. Access and Interaction

The faculty member shall ensure that all students have access to him/her through properly scheduled office hours. Faculty members must be capable of responding to questions from a deep understanding of theoretical, empirical and practical knowledge of the subject matter they teach. Faculty members chosen mainly for their experience background, rather than for traditional academic preparation (research doctorate) should bring a broadly informed understanding to the learning experience so that they do not present material and respond to students from a narrow perspective. The colleges must demonstrate that such faculty members bring a breadth and depth of perspective to their teaching assignments. 

Interactions must be characterized by integrity and respect among participants. The purpose of office hours is to provide frequent interaction between students and faculty members. Those interactions help develop critical dialogue, provide mentoring support, offer role models and foster professional dedication and commitment. 

UD’s rules and regulations for office hours are: 

• Each Faculty is required to provide one office hour per week for each section taught. Office hours are posted in all faculty offices. Faculty members shall also be available at other times for informal discussions.

• All faculty members should be involved in academic advising of students.
  
  
• Faculty members are encouraged to actively participate in campus student activities and competitions.

In addition to this, faculty members are encouraged to provide students with access to field professionals under the “Faculty for a Day” program or through inviting relevant guest-speakers.  

 

C. Learning Performance and Feedback

Evaluations of student performance should reflect faculty expectations for high quality student performance. The assessment instruments must be inclusive and exhaustive and should reflect the depth of knowledge as articulated by each course learning outcome. The course learning outcomes display the quality standards of the faculty and should be appropriate and covering a wide range of cognitive levels. Program and course learning outcomes should be clearly communicated to students. Faculty members should deliver the courses in such a way that students can reach the learning outcomes through persistent and earnest effort. To assess promptness and pervasiveness of feedback for students, the university considers the following:

• The extent to which the student had the opportunity to understand their levels of knowledge and skills.
   
  
• The formative content of the evaluations. 
  
• The extent to which students were encouraged to reflect on their performance and the feedback given on it. 

See Policy EP 3.7 Grading and Assessment for more details.

 

D. Academic Advising

Faculty are responsible for advising students on academic matters, including course selection, degree requirements, and career pathways. Faculty should be accessible to students for regular advising sessions and provide guidance and support to help students achieve their academic goals as outlined in the Academic advising Policy S6.17.

 

E. Inclusive Teaching Practices

Faculty should adopt inclusive teaching practices that accommodate diverse learning styles and backgrounds, ensuring that all students have equal opportunities to succeed.

1.4 Teamwork

Where possible, faculty members should encourage students to collaborate. Students should have both formal and informal opportunities to develop cooperative work skills. Intellectual tasks in some parts of the program should require collaborative learning.

The UD programs should involve collaboration and cooperation among participants in the educational process (in class or extracurricular activities of the college). Such collaboration and cooperation should occur by paying special attention to the team-based activities assigned in classes or designed into extra-curricular activities. 

1.5 Instructional Innovation

Each faculty member should use established processes to evaluate and guide instructional improvement. Instructional improvement depends on individual faculty members, the faculty as a whole and support staff, as appropriate, and should be reflected in each faculty members portfolio.

Each faculty member should participate in the development and evaluation of innovations in teaching and learning. At a minimum, there should be formal processes in place to evaluate innovations made in each college program. 

 

1.6 Instruction Evaluation and Monitoring of Grade Distribution

UD has a systematic program for evaluating instructional performance of faculty members. Information for instructional evaluation is available to both faculty members and administrators. Details are provided in FP 5.5 Professional Development Policy for Faculty.

1.7 Faculty Self-Development in Teaching

Faculty must show evidence of current knowledge of both theory and practice related to their research and teaching areas. This evidence is demonstrated by course development, effective teaching, and instructional development activities and innovation. A commitment to teaching excellence is communicated to faculty in recruitment interviews and at faculty meetings and workshops during the academic year.  Faculty members can maintain their currency in their instructional fields through active involvement in:

1. Publication of research results related to their teaching areas.

2. Presentation of papers at conferences and meetings.

3. Attending conferences, seminars and workshops related to their instructional fields.

4. Participation in the College teaching forums.

5. Development of instructional materials.

6. Use of online resources to update knowledge.

7. Participation in outside professional activities.

8. Participation in seminars, teaching and research forums and workshops.

9. Reviewing journal and conference publications.

2. Teaching Load 

The expected teaching load for faculty members is outlined in detail in FP 5.6 Faculty Workload Policy.  

3. Continuous Development of Intellectual Capital

Individual faculty members are the single most important resource for the programs of the colleges. As such they are personally responsible for bringing current and relevant intellectual resources into the teaching of the programs. Each faculty member, thus, is obligated to continuously update, expand and hone personal knowledge and skills. Without this personal commitment on the part of individual faculty members, the intellectual life of the university will stagnate, and the vitality of degree programs will quickly be lost. In addition, faculty must also engage in activities that help them maintain currency in their discipline’s developing field of scholarship.

UD places an emphasis on discovery of new knowledge, its applications and the enhancement of instruction. Faculty members should show evidence of significant intellectual contributions to basic and applied research and/or instructional development. Some accrediting bodies like AACSB give more weight for research work in International Peer Reviewed Journals (PRJ) and less weight for conference proceedings and chapters published in textbooks. The rationale is to maintain quality in research work to categorize the faculty members as AQ. Other recognizable criteria are listed in the FP 5.13 Faculty Promotion Policy. 

UD also encourages the participation of faculty members in academic and professional organizations as an important way to enhance professional development and to make intellectual contributions. Faculty members are also encouraged to present and review papers related to their disciplines or serve on the editorial boards of international journals or professional organizations. In order to receive UD support, meetings and conferences must be of a professional and/or scholarly nature that will enhance the faculty member’s contribution to the UD’s mission.

Consistent with its mission, UD encourages faculty to provide outside professional and consultancy services to local businesses and other organizations. In addition, UD promotes a collaborative working relationship between external stakeholders and faculty members. This policy strengthens the competence of faculty members, enhances the public service reputation of UD and gives students additional opportunities for professional experience and employment. More details are outlined in FP 5.2 Employment Policies and in R 4.1 Research Support Policy. The expected research output from faculty members is outlined in FP 5.7 Policy for Professional Requirements for Teaching. 

4. University and Professional Service 

It is generally expected that participation in these activities will normally account for 20-30 percent of a faculty’s workload. Service is one of the four categories considered in the promotion criteria. For further details, faculty members must refer to FP 5.5, Professional Development Policy for Faculty as well as  FP 5.13Faculty Promotion Policy. Select details are listed in the following sections.

4.1 UD Service

The participation of the faculty member in UD committees provides the means for involvement in the academic community and its development and gives the faculty member the opportunity to explain his/her point of view and share the responsibility in executing university policies. Service to UD includes:

1. Participation in university governance through various committees

2. Curriculum development

3. Academic advising and mentoring

4.2 Professional Service

Service to the broader community includes participation in community activities, participation in professional associations and assistance to local businesses.

Also, the participation in providing community service through training sessions, workshops, seminars, consultation and other scientific activities supplement the faculty member duties which enable him to play an active and direct role in helping institutions in the society.

5. UD Organizational Hierarchy

Faculty are expected to adhere to UD organizational hierarchy in terms of reporting lines as outlined below:

1. Faculty report to the Program Director/Dean, as applicable

2. Program Director reports to the Dean/VPAA

3. The Dean reports to the VPAA

4. The VPAA reports to the President

6. Weights of Activities for Performance Evaluation

The effort allotted in the three areas of duties for faculty members who are not involved in administrative duties are outlined in  Table 1.   

Table 1:

7. Administrative Responsibility   

Faculty members assigned to senior administrative positions may have additional duties as prescribed in their assignments (Policy A1.2 Organization). Faculty involved in administrative duties may entail a reduced work load (refer to FP 5.6  Faculty Workload Policy). 

Where a faculty member is engaged in senior administrative duties, the weights shown in Table 1 are reduced to accommodate the new responsibilities as guided by the reduced teaching release mentioned in the appointment decree. Exceptions need the approval of the President.

Faculty members are required to publish their intellectual contributions in relevant online databases (e.g. Faculty Success, Research Gate, Google Scholar, Scopus etc.).

8. Expectations from Academic Unit Heads

The management of the faculty resources is the responsibility of the college's administration. Effective development and use of faculty resources will determine, more than any other factor, whether UD meets its responsibility to engage its resources toward the fulfillment of the UD mission. The multiple responsibilities must be balanced among the faculty members so that each faculty member has realistic expectations and in a way that reasonably distributes tasks among the faculty members. The management of faculty members’ resources includes: 

1. Setting realistic expectations for individual faculty members. 

2. Assigning reasonably distributed responsibilities and workloads across all faculty members. 

3. Communicating performance expectations to faculty members clearly and timely. 

4. Systemizing faculty review, promotion and reward processes in line with the college's mission. 

5. Projecting faculty resource requirements. 

6. Promoting support and assessment of knowledge development

7. Providing feedback on performance achievements.

The VPAA shall ensure that the academic unit heads follow the above directions accurately.  Further details on the roles of Program Directors and Deans are outlined in Policy 1.2 Organization.

9. Service Exclusivity

A UD faculty member should devote the majority of his/her time and efforts to serve the University and help achieve its goals and objectives. Any external work that develops a faculty’s professional capabilities may be accepted but needs to be approved by the Dean. More details are discussed in Policy FP 5.2 Employment Policies.

10. Academic Freedom

Academic freedom at the University of Dubai is based on the following: 

1. To create an environment that fosters the free flow of information and ideas that exposes students to a wide range of unrestricted viewpoints

2. To respect the principles of the Islamic faith and the national values of the United Arab Emirates

UD fully supports both of these philosophies and makes every effort to balance all values in cases where conflicts arise. 

An important and widely accepted reference is Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948):

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 

Values associated with the free flow of information are asserted, for example, by access to the Internet at the University, which is free of restrictions imposed nationally for the general public. Additionally, UD has no restrictions on the acquisition of academically appropriate materials for the library.

Students should be made aware that pursuing higher education could, at times, challenge their traditional or conventional attitudes. There is a possibility that they may be exposed to ideas or images that are different from their own personal values.  

The goal of the University is never to alter any beliefs or values. Instead, it strives to produce globally aware and socially responsible graduates who are capable of independent critical thinking and judgment, who respect and understand diverse points of view and tolerate perspectives that are different than their own (as the scriptures of Islam and other faiths encourage). Sensitivity to the local culture of the UAE must also be taken into consideration and respected. 

The University has a commitment to academic freedom within the context of the culture and laws of the UAE. This cultural and legal environment is characterized by the necessity to be respectful of Islam and all social groups, as well. UAE laws prohibit publishing materials or conducting any public discussion that causes hatred or disrespect to Islam, the national laws, or the basic governance system of the nation. These Federal laws also prohibit publishing anything that advocates violating the law or disrespecting the beliefs of others. It is illegal to publish any item that supports criminal activity or hatred among any community within the UAE society.