Report 2010: 4 R
Teachers' and researchers' working hours
The question of how much time teachers and researchers spend on their teaching and research is a perennial subject of debate. We now have access to unique data on which this study can be based. This report analyses the annual performance statistics from Statistics Sweden's (SCB) to shed light on a number of issues relating to the use of resources and the conditions that apply for student as well as teachers and researchers. Of these findings the following results are the most interesting.
The majority of working hours are devoted to research
On average the staff of higher education institutions devote just under 40 per cent of their working hours to research and just over 25 per cent to teaching. Professors are close to this average while senior lecturers spend just under a quarter of their working hours on research and half their time on teaching.
Professors, senior lecturers and lecturers each devote about 15 per cent of their working hours to administrative tasks. In addition they are called on to act as referees and elected representatives and as they advance in their careers these tasks become more extensive.
Postdoctoral research fellows in technology devote less time to research than their counterparts in other disciplinary domains
How working hours are allocated to various activities in the different disciplinary domains varies to a great extent depending on financial and staffing resources. But there are also differences in the allocation of working hours for the same categories in different disciplinary domains. For instance, professors in the natural sciences spend more time teaching in first and second-cycle programmes than other professors while postdoctoral research fellows in technology spend less time on research than their counterparts in other disciplinary domains.
How much research or teaching is done?
One way of describing the use of resources is to study how many whole-time equivalents are devoted to research and third-cycle programmes in relation to a higher education institution's revenues. On average SEK one million pays for 0.7 whole-time equivalents. Earlier it was customary to calculate that a professorship cost SEK one million. The study reveals that this is far too low a figure.
In assessing the amount of teaching allocated to first and second-cycle programmes we have opted instead for a student perspective and consider how many students have to share one whole-time equivalent of teaching. We have come to the conclusion that the average figure is 30 FTE's per whole-time equivalent of teaching. At higher education institutions with a large proportion of students in the humanities and social sciences the number of FTE's per whole-time equivalent is higher. This outcome is probably influenced by the lower funding these domains receive.
Students meet few professors
One important consideration for students is how qualified the teachers they meet in their classes are. We have therefore used the annual performance statistics to calculate the proportion of teaching undertaken by the different categories of staff.
Teaching in first and second-cycle programme is largely offered by lecturers, 43 per cent, while senior lecturers undertake 31 per cent. Professors and doctoral students account for more or less the same proportion of the annual total of teaching hours, 8 per cent for the former, 9 per cent for the latter. There are however relatively large variations between the disciplinary domains. The most qualified teachers are encountered by students in the natural sciences, where professors account for 14 per cent of the teaching. The input of doctoral students is considerable in teaching in the natural sciences and technology, where they account for about 15 per cent of the teaching in first and second-cycle programmes.
Professors undertake most of the teaching in third-cycle programmes, 40 per cent, and senior lecturers account for 24 per cent. A considerable amount of the teaching in third-cycle programmes is also provided by staff classified as researchers. They account for 13 per cent of the teaching.
More expert assignments and elected positions for women
We have not been able to determine any statistically reliable differences in the allocation of working hours for women and men. The material indicates, however, that women spend more time on duties other than teaching and research than men, in particular as external experts and in elected positions. These tasks take up a great deal of time especially for women professors. One possible explanation is that the relatively few women are given more assignments to ensure an even gender balance in boards, committees and other decision-making and drafting bodies.
The time allocated for referee assignments is not specified in the survey but we have assumed that this is accounted for as research. Here the same pattern could apply in terms of gender differences as for expert assignments and elected positions — refereeing takes up a greater proportion of the hours accounted for as research by women than by men.
These questions remain for future studies.
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