/Institutions/University-of-Dubai/json/2024-2025/Shared-Content-local.json

/Institutions/University-of-Dubai/json/2024-2025/Shared-Content.json

Shared Content > Policies > Faculty and Professional Staff > Faculty Workload Policy

Faculty Workload Policy

Policy

1. Faculty Workload

Faculty members are required to work as below:

1.1 Teaching Load for Full-Time Faculty

1. The teaching load for a full-time faculty member at the professorial rank is 12 CH in a regular semester or 24 CH per year, which is equivalent to 180 contact hours (12 CH x 15 contact hours per CH) in a semester, or 360 contact hours in an academic year. 

2. The teaching load of a faculty member appointed at the lecturer or senior lecturer ranks is 30 credit hours in an academic year, which is equivalent to 450 contact hours. 

3. For load calculation purposes, one credit of a graduate level course will be counted as equivalent to 1.33 credits of an undergraduate course (excluding credit hours for thesis supervision). This applies to all professorial ranked faculty members.

4. Teaching in the summer or short sessions is optional, and the work is not counted as part of a faculty’s annual teaching load. A faculty member teaching in summer is compensated as per the rates mentioned in  FP 5.3 Compensation and Benefits Policy. The load of a faculty member in a short/summer session/term must not exceed six (6) CH per semester/term.

5. Teaching load is computed on an annual basis. The Dean and Program Director must ensure that a faculty’s teaching load is complete within the regular semesters of the same academic year, i.e. a lower load in either the fall or spring semesters must be compensated by the faculty member during the same academic year excluding the summer sessions. Incomplete teaching loads can’t be carried over into the following academic year.

6. If a faculty member ends up having an under-teaching load for unavoidable reasons, the faculty’s teaching load will be considered complete for the academic year.       

7. Except for official leaves of absence or approved release-times, faculty members are expected to participate fully in the teaching program during each regular semester.

8. The overload teaching hours of each faculty member must not  exceed three (3) CH (45 hours) per year including thesis supervision credit hours and excluding summer). The overload is compensated at the rates mentioned in the policy FP 5.3 Compensation and Benefits. Overloads need the approval of the VPAA.

9. Teaching in the pre-LLM or pre-MBA courses will be counted as part of a faculty members’ annual teaching load. 

10. Since the undergraduate and graduate programs follow different calendars, the graduate terms (i.e. terms 1 and 2) are counted in the same timeframe for teaching load calculation as the undergraduate fall semester, and terms 3, and with the spring semester.   

11. A faculty member assigned to a senior administrative position is urged to focus on his/her administrative duties and avoid engaging in overload activities from teaching and/or dissertation supervision. To secure a weekly block of time dedicated for research, the faculty’s teaching load is normally scheduled over three to four days whenever possible.  

12. The teaching assignment for a faculty member must normally be in his/her terminal degree discipline, but exceptions can be made based on the faculty member’s experience, professional certification and research publications record. 

13. The Dean shall approve the faculty members’ timetable at the beginning of the semester which includes their office hours, teaching, committee memberships, advising and other relevant assignments. 

14. Other workload arrangements must be approved by the Dean, Program Director and the VPAA. 

 

1.2 Intellectual Contribution Expectations 

Professorial-ranked faculty members are expected to publish in Scopus ranked journals.  Journals are classified as outlined in R4.1 Research Support Policy. The weights allocated for research for faculty members assigned senior administrative duties is reduced.  Refer to  FP  5.1 Faculty Role Policy for more details.

 

1.3 Supervision of MBA Action Research Project/MS Thesis/MS Final Project

Each student registered for the MBA action research project/MS or LLM thesis is assigned to a faculty member for supervision and guidance. This supervision is counted within the faculty’s teaching load at a rate of 0.25 CH/student/term or semester (See FP 5.3 Compensation and Benefits Policy).  A faculty member can simultaneously supervise as many students as her/his teaching load permits. However, the Dean may choose to cap the maximum number of simultaneous supervisions in his/her college based on current circumstances. 

 

1.4 Supervision of PhD Dissertation 

Normally, only academically qualified and experienced faculty members f can serve as primary PhD dissertation supervisors. Other UD faculty members who are active in research can co-supervise PhD students. Supervision is counted as part of a faculty member’s annual teaching load and is calculated at a rate of 0.5 CH/term for supervision of one student. In case of joint supervision between UD faculty members, the rate of 0.5 can be divided based on agreement between primary and secondary supervisor. The Dean is required to approve an agreement prior to execution.   r, A faculty member should not supervise more than six (6) PhD students at the same time. The supervision is given for a maximum of 8 terms.

1.5 Part-Time Teaching Load

A part-time faculty may be contracted on an hourly basis to teach a maximum of two courses (6 CHS) in any regular semester (or equivalent period) in either the undergraduate or graduate programs or in a combination of both. A part-time contract is issued, for specified courses and for a specific semester and is not a continuing appointment. A new contract will be issued every semester. More details on part time faculty members can be found in policies FP 5.1 Faculty Role and FP 5.3 Faculty Compensation. 

2. Release Time

2.1 Faculty Members Assigned Senior Administrative Duties

A faculty member assigned to senior administrative positions is eligible for a reduced workload and will be announced through a President’s decree.  Deans will receive a workload release of a minimum of 6CHS up to 9CHS based on their KPI’s and will be announced through a Presidential Decree.

2.2 Faculty Members Assigned as Program Directors

A faculty member assigned as a Program Director is eligible for a reduced workload of a minimum of at least three (3) CH per semester and will be announced through a President’s decree. Program Director release time is based on number of students enrolled in the program as per the following table:

2.3 Other Workload Release 

1. The College Dean may recommend to the President through the VPAA a temporary release time for a full-time faculty member for specific reasons/duties such as special teaching/research or administrative duties. The assigned duties must be equivalent in weight to the number of CHS released using a rule of 15 hours of work per one credit hour released in a semester/term.

2. Other various forms of release times are offered as follows:  

• A newly appointed faculty will avail three (3) CH of release time in the first semester. The 3 CH release is to help the faculty member establish his/her research agenda and to acquaint him/herself with the system and policies at UD.  

• A faculty member may be given additional compensation and/or 3 CH release time for high research output.  Refer to R 4.1 Research Support Policy for more details.

• A faculty member may also request a teaching release time (buyout) from externally funded projects/grants, in which case, the faculty must compensate the University a pro-rata of his salary proportional to his/her reduced teaching load. Such a request must be applied at least two months before the start of the following semester and needs the approval of the VPAA based on the recommendation of the Dean.

3. General Rules  

The Deans and Program Directors are fully accountable for the monitoring and enforcing of workload policies. Any exception to this policy must be pre-approved by the VPAA.