A-Z content
Changes to Academic Staffing Structure
Academic Staff at Loughborough
In striving for excellence in all things, we need the right people doing the right thing at the right time. Revised academic roles will enable staff to focus on those parts of the job where they can add the most value.
This will lead to more high-quality research, a better academic student experience, accelerated exploitation of research, and greater job satisfaction.
Staff in all three columns will make up the academic staff of the University .
Column 1 – Supporting and Specialist Academic Job Family
This column will consist of a variety of staff, including Research Assistants/Associates, some senior Technicians, University Teachers and other staff solely engaged in research and/or teaching in a supportive capacity. This column will also consist of certain specialist roles where staff are employed in a particular capacity to contribute to the academic function, for example, Associate Lecturers who are experts in industry/commerce and who carry out teaching activities in order to enhance the learning experience for students.
It is recognised that at times, Schools need short term dedicated support, e.g. to cover for sickness, maternity/shared parental leave and to meet peaks in demand and it is envisaged that staff employed to fulfil these obligations will be employed in this category. The usual rules regarding the use of fixed term contracts will apply (see Ordinance XLIII).
Staff in this column will be able to progress their career by applying to move into columns two and three (if appropriate) or by applying for other positions as and when they arise. Although there will not be a promotion pathway based on performance (as for staff in column two), staff will be encouraged to develop their careers and will receive appropriate support to do so.
Support roles will typically be on grades five, six and seven and specialist roles will normally be on grades seven, eight but in some circumstances, for certain senior academic management roles, grade nine may be considered.
Column 2 – Research, Teaching and Enterprise (RTE) Job Family
This column will be for academic staff who are engaged in research, teaching, enterprise and associated management duties. The expectation is that staff will contribute to a range of these activities and that the proportion of their time spent on different activities may fluctuate over time. The Dean will be responsible for managing the workload balances of staff in this column using a transparent workload model that accords with the agreed principles. Deans have authority to manage the school workload model and to facilitate short periods of dedicated activity for staff if such activity can be demonstrated to be in support of the University Strategy or to facilitate the return of members of staff from periods of family leave or ill health.
Staff in this column will be encouraged to apply for Fellowships (both internal and external) and on receipt of such an award, will be moved into column three. On completion of the Fellowship, they will return to column 2.
There will be promotion procedures set out to enable staff to progress through the column to the title of Professor. Promotion will be based on performance and subject to satisfying the criteria specified.
Roles in this column will range from grade six to grade nine.
Column 3 – Fellowships
Staff who have successfully obtained a Fellowship (both internally and externally funded Fellowships) will be placed in this column for the duration of the award. They will typically have the title of Fellow but may also use the title attached to the external award, e.g. Marie Curie Researcher.
It is not expected that staff will be in this category on an open ended basis, but rather will move in and out of this column from columns one and two. In this category, staff will be permitted to specialise exclusively in either research, teaching or enterprise (depending on the terms of their Fellowship). Further details on Fellowship schemes are available here.
Study leave in its current format will be revised and arrangements for staff to specialise on a particular activity for a dedicated period of time will be incorporated into the internal fellowship scheme. The details of this are being developed.
Roles in this column will range from grade seven to grade nine and will comply with the terms of the Fellowship.