Regulations on the Job Responsibilities of Teachers at the University of Akureyri

NO. 928/2018

APPROVED BY THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL 21.06.2018

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Article 1. Job responsibilities

The job responsibilities of teachers at the University of Akureyri are divided into three main factors: research, teaching and management.

Article 2. Definition of work factors

2.1 Teaching

Teaching at the University of Akureyri consists in training students to attend independently to scientific projects and undertake various jobs in society. The teaching is intended to develop students, train them in disciplined work methods, strengthen their knowledge and enable them to apply their knowledge in independent, creative and critical ways and to acquire new knowledge. Research and teaching shall be integrated at all levels of study, as far as possible.

Studies leading to a degree at the University of Akureyri are divided into individual courses that together form one whole. Schools are responsible for studies and awarding of degrees. A School therefore makes a decision on what courses are taught and who teaches them. Teachers enjoy teaching freedom within the framework established by the School. They themselves decide on learning material, treatment of material and teaching methods. This important freedom consists in obligations and responsibilities towards the academic fields, students and colleagues.

2.2 Research

Teachers enjoy academic research freedom; this means that they themselves choose subject matters in their academic field and the methods that they apply. A School defines the academic field of each teacher. Research freedom consists in responsibilities and obligations. Research results shall be presented in a scientific forum that sets strict academic requirements. They shall also be presented to the public, as far as possible. Teachers shall seek to acquire income from research funds and from other parties for their research. Annually, teachers shall give an account of their research and its results.

2.3 Management

Management consists in tasks connected to the teaching and research of the teacher in question and projects under the auspices of the School, Faculty or study programme that people are assigned to handle or they are elected to attend to on a temporary basis.

Employees receive special remuneration for serving as Head of Faculty and Head of Department and for attending meetings in committees and working groups appointed by the Rector, as has been the case in past semesters.

Article 3. Division of job responsibilities between work factors

The provisions in this article apply to university teachers. The article, though, does not apply to those who serve in the position of School Dean.

3.1 General job responsibilities of university teachers.

1. Job responsibilities of Professors are generally divided into 48% teaching, 40% research and 12% management.
2. Job responsibilities of Assistant Professors and Associate Professors in a 50% position or more are generally divided into 48% teaching, 40% research and 12% management.
3. Job responsibilities of Assistant Professors and Associate Professors in a less than 50% position are divided into 69% teaching, 23% research and 8% management.
4. Job responsibilities of Adjuncts in a 50% position or more are generally divided into 65% teaching, 31% research and 4% management.
5. Job responsibilities of Adjuncts in a less than 50% position are up to 90% teaching and 10% management and other responsibilities.

3.2 Exemptions from general job responsibilities

I. Proportional increase of teaching duty.

A. Proportional increase of teaching duty beyond general job responsibilities is based on average research activity over the past three or five years depending on which is more favourable to the person in question.

Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors in a full-time position with fewer than 10 research points on average over the last three or five years receive a proportional increase in teaching duty, cf. table A. Adjuncts in a full-time position with fewer than 7 research points on average over the last three or five years receive in the same way a proportional increase in teaching duty, cf. table B.
Consideration shall be given to employment ratio and research duty in each instance when general rules are deviated from.
Consideration shall be given to changes in job responsibilities because of parental leave, illness or accident, cf. applicable rules.
Proportion of teaching duty shall not be increased for the first five years of working at the University of Akureyri.

Proportionally increased teaching duty according to section A is as specified in tables A and B in the case of a full-time position.

Table A Research activity, 3- or 5-year average
Professors, Assistant Professors and Associate Professors
Research points	Teaching duty
9	48,3%
8	49,2%
7	50,7%
6	52,8%
5	55,5%
4	58,8%
3	62,7%
2	67,2%
1	72,3%
0	78,0%

Table B Research activity, 3- or 5-year average
Adjuncts I
Research points	Teaching duty
6	65,4%
5	66,7%
4	68,9%
3	71,9%
2	75,7%
1	80,4%
0	86,0%

B. In spite of section A, a teacher can request to increase his/her teaching duty at the cost of research duty. A School Dean can also under special circumstances, for example, because of temporary workload, lack of educational staff, illness or absence of other kinds, decide in consultation with a teacher that he/she increase his/her teaching duty temporarily at the cost of research duty. Furthermore, the Rector can call on an employee for temporary work in which case his/her job responsibilities change according to an agreement.

The following applies to proportionally increased teaching duty according to sections A and B: Management duty remains unchanged but research duty decreases correspondingly and teaching duty increases.

Overtime ceiling for teaching does not change.

Teaching points go up by 0.5 points per year for each percentage that teaching duty increases of overall work duty.

II. Proportionally increased research duty.

General rule: If a teacher requests to increase his/her research duty at the cost of teaching duty, the general rule shall be that he/she finds a teacher to take his/her place and pays for the teaching from special income/personal income.
Special rule: If a School Dean/Faculty considers it important to enable a specific teacher to increase the proportion of his/her research duty, the respective School/Faculty can agree to bear the cost of this.
A teacher who increases his/her proportion of research duty according to section 1 can not teach overtime unless this consists in supervision for a Master’s and/or Doctoral thesis.

Article 4. Sabbaticals

In order to have the option of taking a sabbatical, a university teacher shall have met his/her full teaching and management requirement during the previous six or twelve terms depending on whether the application is for one or two sabbaticals; total number of research points shall amount to at least 10 points per year on average, over the past 3–5 years. See further information on sabbaticals for teachers at the University of Akureyri in Regulations no. 355/2012 with amendment no. 636/2013.

Article 5. Entry into force etc

These Regulations, approved by the University Council on 21 June 2018, are set on the basis of Article 18 in the Higher Education Institution Act no. 63/2006, Article 15 in the Act on Public Higher Education Institutions no. 85/2008 and Article 18 in Regulations for the University of Akureyri no. 387/2009. These Regulations immediately enter into force.

University of Akureyri, 21 June 2018.
Eyjólfur Guðmundsson Rector.

B-department - Date of publication: 23 October 2018