/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 > Policy on Professional Requirements for Teaching

Policy on Professional Requirements for Teaching

Policy 

The University of Dubai (UD) is committed to maintaining a faculty of high quality that is consistent with its mission and objectives. Carrying out that mission requires that the faculty members of the UD achieve appropriate academic preparation by earning doctoral degrees that are in, or are closely related to, the field of teaching and research. In the absence of a doctoral degree, the faculty should have earned at least a master’s degree in an appropriate discipline augmented by practical experience that further prepares the faculty member for an instructional role in the UD 

Development of faculty is also expected and may include internal or external training and upskilling as needed to remain current and support UD’ faculty and learners.

1. Qualification Definitions of Faculty
Distinct faculty qualification categories of faculty members depend on the nature of their initial academic preparation and subsequent academic and/or professional engagement activities.

Initial academic preparation is assessed by earned degrees and other academic credentials. Initial professional experience is assessed by the nature, level, and duration of leadership and management position(s) in the practice of Business/IT/Engineering/Law and/or other types of organizational work.

Sustained academic and professional engagement is combined with initial academic preparation and initial professional experience to maintain and augment qualifications (i.e., currency and relevance in the field of teaching) of a faculty member over time.

 

Academic engagement reflects faculty scholarly development activities that support integration of relevant, current theory of Business and Management/IT/Engineering/Law consistent with the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and supporting strategies. 

Professional engagement reflects faculty practice-oriented development activities that support integration of relevant, current practice of Business and Management/IT/Law/Engineering, consistent with the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and supporting strategies.

 

Qualified faculty status applies to faculty members who sustain intellectual capital in their fields of teaching, demonstrating currency and relevance of intellectual capital to support the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and strategies, including teaching, scholarship, and other mission components. Categories for specifying qualified faculty status are based on the initial academic preparation, initial professional experience, and sustained academic and professional engagement.

2. Faculty Qualifications & UD Mission

The faculty, in aggregate, should have sufficient academic and professional qualifications to accomplish the UD mission as SA, PA/SL, SP or IP/L faculty. Definitions of these categories are as below: 

Scholarly Academics (SA) sustain currency and relevance through scholarship and related activities. Normally, SA status is granted to newly hired faculty members who earned their research doctorates within the last five years prior to the review dates. Subsequent to hiring, SA status is sustained as outlined below.

Practice Academics (PA)/Senior Lecturers sustain currency and relevance through professional engagement, interaction, and relevant activities. Normally, PA/SL status applies to faculty members who augment their initial preparation as academic scholars with development and engagement activities that involve substantive linkages to practice, consulting, research and other forms of professional engagement, etc., based on the faculty members’ earlier work as an SA faculty member. PA/SL status is sustained as outlined below.

Scholarly Practitioners (SP) sustain currency and relevance through continued professional experience, engagement, or interaction and scholarship related to their professional background and experience. Normally, SP status applies to practitioner faculty members who augment their experience with development and engagement activities involving substantive scholarly activities in their fields of teaching. SP status is sustained as outlined below.

A faculty member is deemed to be SP if he or she meets the following criteria: 

1. The faculty member holds an appropriate master’s degree in a field related to the teaching discipline. Generally speaking, the MBA/MS degree is recognized as appropriate for all lower division coursework in the colleges and some upper division coursework.

2. The faculty member has practical work experience of minimum 8 years that is relevant to the teaching area, significant in duration and responsibility, and current at the time of hiring. They should also demonstrate their professional qualification through professional examinations and certifications from accredited international bodies such as CFA, IMA, ILM, AICPA, CIM, MCSE etc.

Instructional Practitioners (IP)/Lecturers sustain currency and relevance through continued professional experience and engagement related to their professional backgrounds and experience. Normally, IP/L status is granted to newly hired faculty members who join the faculty with significant and substantive professional experience as outlined below. IP/L status is sustained as outlined below.

Documenting faculty qualification status requires the college to demonstrate faculty members are either SA, PA/SL, SP or IP/L. Those individuals who do not meet the criteria for these categories will be classified as “Other.” 

Total faculty resources - The aggregate or total faculty resources (SA, PA/SL, SP, IP/L, and other) is the sum of all full and partial (based on a measure of percent-of-time devoted to the college’s mission) assignments. For example, if a college has 12 faculty members who are 100 percent devoted to the mission and seven faculty members who are only 50 percent devoted to mission, total faculty resources equal 15.5.

1. The college’s blend of SA, PA/SL, SP, and IP/L faculty members in support of degree programs, locations, disciplines and other mission components must result from a strategic choice and be consistent with the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and strategies.

2. In the aggregate, qualifications in the college’s portfolio of participating and supporting faculty members are sufficient to support high-quality performance in all activities in support of the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and strategies. 

3. The college ensures students in all programs, disciplines, locations, and delivery modes are supported by high-quality learning experiences delivered or directed by an appropriate blend of qualified faculty that is strategically deployed and supported by an effective learning infrastructure. For example, programs with research doctoral and research master’s degree programs are expected to have higher percentages of SA and PA/SL faculty, maintain a strong focus on SA faculty, and place high emphasis on faculty who possess research doctoral degrees and who undertake scholarly activities to maintain SA status. Programs that emphasize practice-oriented degrees may have a more balanced approach to the distribution of SA, PA/SL, SP, IP/L, and other faculty members, subject to the limitations in the stated guidance and criteria that place high emphasis on a balance of theory and practice.

4. Qualified faculty are appropriately distributed across all programs, disciplines, locations, and delivery modes. The deployment of faculty resources is consistent with mission, expected outcomes, and strategies.

 

3. Faculty Classification 

 

1. Full-time faculty members:
   Full-time faculty members are those who graduated with a terminal degree and are active researchers usually publishing 1 academic journal per academic year and have a teaching load of up to the equivalent of 12 credit hours per semester either in the graduate or undergraduate programs. Professorial faculty members are (i.e. Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor) may also be referred to as SA and PA/SL.

   
   

   Senior Lecturers and Lecturers are also classified as full-time faculty members who teach general elective courses of up to 15 credit hours per semester and are non-active researchers. Senior lecturers must have a PhD degree while Lecturers must possess a Master's degree. 

   
   

   Full-time faculty members are classified according to their rank as follows: 

   • Professor

   • Associate Professor

   • Assistant Professor

   • Senior Lecturer

   • Lecturer

   
   

2. Part-time faculty members:

Part-time faculty members are those who graduated either with a Master’s or PhD degree who possess the relevant work experience in their current field of teaching. Part-time faculty members are given a maximum of 6 credit hours per semester and may be allowed to participate in academic research as co - supervisors.   

Part-time faculty members may also be referred to as SP and IP/L. 

 

4. Basis for Judgment 

1. Normally, a doctoral degree emphasizing advanced foundational discipline-based research is appropriate initial academic/professional preparation for SA and PA/SL status, and there must be ongoing, sustained, and substantive academic and/or professional engagement activities supporting SA and PA/SL status. Individuals with a graduate degree in Law will be considered SA or PA/SL for teaching Business Law and legal environment of Business, subject to ongoing, sustained, and substantive academic and/or professional engagement activities demonstrating currency and relevance related to the teaching field. 

2. For SA and PA/SL status, the less related faculty members’ doctoral degrees are to their fields of teaching, the more they must demonstrate higher levels of sustained, substantive academic and/or professional engagement to support their currency and relevance in their fields of teaching and their contributions to other mission components. In such cases, the burden of proof is on the college to make its case for SA or PA/SL status.

3. If individuals have doctoral degrees that are less foundational discipline-based research-oriented or if their highest degrees are not doctorates, then they must demonstrate higher levels of sustained, substantive academic and/or professional engagement activities to support their currency and relevance in their fields of teaching and their contributions to other mission components. The burden of proof is on the college to make its case for SA or PA/SL status in such cases. 

4. Academic and professional engagement activities must be substantive and sustained at levels that support currency and relevance for the college’s mission, expected outcomes, and strategies. Engagement can result from the work of a single faculty member, collaborations between and among multiple faculty, or collaborations between faculty and other scholars and/or practitioners. 

 

5. Guidance for Documentation 

 

1. The college should provide its policies related to faculty qualifications, summarize its approach to the deployment of faculty resources across the respective school, and explain how this approach is consistent with its mission, strategies, and expected outcomes.

2. Appendix I must be completed to document the qualification status of participating (full-time faculty with 100% participation in achieving college’s mission) and supporting (adjunct) faculty members, the percent of their time that is devoted to mission, and the ways their work aligns with the objective expectations detailed above. Graduate students or the equivalent with teaching responsibilities must be included in Appendix I. Appendix I may not include faculty members who left prior to the normal academic year reflected in the table. Table 1 must include faculty members who joined the DBS/CEIT/CoL schools during the normal academic year. Appendix  I must be prepared for each fall/spring semester/term; by program (UG/G), location, delivery mode, and/or discipline(s).

3. The college should provide an analysis of the deployment of SA, PA/SL, SP, IP/L, and other faculty by aggregate degree program level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral). The college must  demonstrate deployment of faculty resources across each degree program level. Deployment should be consistent with mission, expected outcomes, and strategies. Peer review teams may request more detail related to a discipline, program, delivery mode, and/or location. 

4. The college should provide information on each faculty member. This information may be provided in the form of academic vitae, through our internal software called Faculty Success or equivalent documents, but must include sufficient detail as to actions, impacts, and timing to support an understanding of faculty engagement activities and their impact on the deployment of qualified faculty resources.

 

6. Maintaining Qualifications 

Entry qualifications (SA, PA/SL, SP & IP/L) are important. Having attained appropriate qualification, faculty members must continue to maintain their qualification status as per the requirements for teaching on the Undergraduate or Graduate programs. Faculty members must be involved in continuous development throughout their careers to stay current. Regardless of their specialty, work experience, or graduate preparation, faculty members must maintain their competence through efforts to learn about their specialty and how it is applied in practice. Likewise, faculty members must engage in constant learning activity to maintain currency in their fields developing research and theory. 

Expectations of the college, as well as individual characteristics and circumstances, will guide the choice of maintenance efforts. There is no intent to categorize certain endeavors as appropriate to maintain academic qualifications and others appropriate to professional qualifications. Persons with either initial qualification may wish to broaden their perspectives by engaging in professional development activities unlike their previous experience; i.e., a professionally qualified faculty member may get involved in basic research. 

Maintaining SA status:

The appropriate faculty qualification status is determined by the terminal degree to the faculty member’s field of teaching coupled with relevant ongoing activities in their field of teaching. If the field of teaching is less connected to the terminal degree, that faculty member must demonstrate sustained, substantive academic and/or professional engagement to support currency and relevance in their field of teaching and contributions to other mission components of the school. 

In addition to producing peer- or editorial-reviewed publications, SA faculty will undertake a variety of academic engagement activities consistent with the faculty member’s role (e.g., junior or senior faculty) and the school’s mission, strategies, and expected outcomes to support maintenance of this status.

To maintain the classification as SA, a faculty member (with PhD acquired recently or prior to 5 years) must:

1. Their research work should also be related directly to their teaching, so that their published research works could be used as study materials/case studies in the classrooms for ensuring applied learning.

2. These guidelines are mutually exclusive and do not in any way override the guidelines stipulated for faculty promotions in UD Policy FP 5.13.

Normally, faculty members may undertake a variety of academic engagement activities linked to the theory of Business and Management/IT/Engineering/Law to support maintenance of SA status. A non-exhaustive list of academic engagement activities may include the following: 

1. Scholarly activities leading to the production of scholarship outcomes 

2. Relevant, active editorships with academic journals or other Business/IT/Law publications 

3. Service on editorial boards or committees 

4. Validation of SA status through leadership positions, participation in recognized academic societies and associations, research awards, academic fellow status, invited presentations, etc. 

Maintaining PA/SL status:

Normally, faculty may possess a terminal degree in a field related to their area of teaching. PA/SL faculty may undertake a variety of professional engagement activities to support maintenance of their status. A non-exhaustive list of professional engagement activities may include the following:

1. Scholarly activities leading to the production of scholarship outcomes

2. Consulting activities that are material in terms of time and substance

3. Faculty internships 

4. Development and presentation of executive education programs 

5. Sustained professional work supporting qualified status 

6. Significant participation in Business/IT/Engineering/Law professional associations

7.  Practice-oriented intellectual contributions 

8. Relevant, active service on boards of directors 

9. Documented continuing professional education experiences 

10. Participation in professional events that focus on the practice of Business, Management, IT, Engineering, Law, and related issues 

11. Participation in other activities that place faculty in direct contact with Business/IT/Engineering/Law or other organizational leaders 

Maintaining SP/IP Status:

1. At the time that a college hires an IP/L or SP as part-time faculty member, that faculty member’s professional experience is current, substantial in terms of duration and level of responsibility, and clearly linked to the field in which the person is expected to teach.

2. The less related the faculty member’s initial professional experience is to the field of teaching or the longer the time since the relevant experience occurred, the higher the expectation is for that faculty member to demonstrate sustained academic and/or professional engagement related to the field of teaching in order to maintain professional qualifications.

3. Normally, IP/L and SP faculty members also have a PhD and/or Master’s degrees in disciplines related to their fields of teaching. 

4. For sustained SP status, a non-exhaustive list of academic and professional engagement activities may include the following: 

• Relevant scholarship outcomes 

• Relevant, active editorships with academic, professional, or other Business/management/IT/Engineering/Law publications 

• Service on editorial boards or committees 

• Validation of SP status through leadership positions in recognized academic societies, research awards, academic fellow status, invited presentations, etc. 

• Development and presentation of continuing professional education activities or executive education programs 

• Substantive roles and participation in academic associations 

• For sustained IP status, a non-exhaustive list of professional engagement activities and interactions may include the following: 

• Consulting activities that are material in terms of time and substance

•  Faculty internships 

• Development and presentation of executive education programs 

• Sustained professional work supporting IP/L status 

• Significant participation in Business/IT/Engineering/Law professional associations and societies 

• Relevant, active service on boards of directors 

• Documented continuing professional education experiences 

• Documented professional certifications in the area of teaching 

• Participation in professional events that focus on the practice of Business, management, IT, Engineering or Law and related issues 

• Participation in other activities that place faculty in direct contact with Business/IT/Engineering/Law and other organizational leaders 

The following table summarizes the policy criteria of qualification and intellectual contributions that exist for categorizing faculty members as SA/PA qualified or SP/IP qualified:

7. (SA/PA/SP/IP) criteria for administrators

For categorizing faculty members holding administrative positions like Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Directors, Dean, Program Director, and the like, as SA/PA qualified faculty, they are expected to have  research output  during the last five years. Administrators who cease administrative functions and return as faculty members will be granted a reasonable amount of time to regain currency in teaching or research as needed and would maintain their faculty qualifications status during this transition time, after which he/she would be expected to be classified according to the school’s normal faculty qualifications criteria. Transition time should not exceed three (3) years.

 

8. Implementation

Each year, the faculty member will be provided feedback as per qualifications statement.Please also refer to publication requirements for Faculty Promotions stated in UD Policy FDP 5.13. Faculty qualifications are summarized in the SA/PA/SP/IP statement below:

Scholarly Practitioners (SP) maintains their status by keeping their professional qualification license valid and active.

Instructional Practitioners/Lecturers (IP) maintain their status if they still keep their senior level management positions active. However, UD full time faculty cannot hold IP status for more than 3-4 years. By this time, IP faculty should have moved to SA/PA status.

Other: If a faculty member fails to be categorized as SA/PA/SP/IP, then he/she is categorized as ‘other’.