University College Cork National University of Ireland, Cork

UNIVERSITIES ACT 1997

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK – NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK

REGULATION on ACADEMIC PROMOTIONS TO SENIOR LECTURESHIPS

adopted by the Governing Body at its meeting on 28 September, 2010

and as amended by Governing Body at its meeting on 18 June 2013

and as amended by Governing Body at its meeting on 16 December 2014by virtue of the Universities Act, 1997, ss 18(2) and 25(1) and Principal Statute B.5.b and F.1.a

Academic Promotions to Senior Lectureships

Part 1 The Senior Lecturer Promotion Scheme.

Part 2 The Lecturer Promotions And Establishment Board.

Part 3 The Promotional Pool.

Part 4 Application Procedure.

Part 5 The Assessment Process.

Part 6 Appeals.

Part 7 Date in force, repeals, etc.

1. The Senior Lecturer Promotion scheme.

1.1. Eligibility to apply. The following are eligible to apply under the Scheme:

·  All Lecturers holding an appointment at UCC and with a Doctorate from a recognised institution (or in exceptional circumstances equivalent evidence of high-level research achievement), providing they have completed at least four years continuous service at UCC.

·  Lecturers holding an appointment at UCC who have a combined total of four years continuous service when their service at UCC is added to service as a Lecturer (or equivalent) at another third-level institution, provided that they would have completed the probationary and establishment period in post at the closing date for applications. In the case of fixed term contract academic staff, applicants must have completed at least two of the four years at UCC at the closing date for applications.

Allowances can be made for applicants who have been on sabbatical, maternity or extended medical leave provided they have completed academic service in UCC in at least two of the previous three years.

1.2. Objectives. The overall objectives of the Scheme are:

·  to promote on the basis of performance, achievement and merit;

·  to operate procedures that are fair and thorough and are perceived to be such;

·  to ensure equity as far as possible whilst recognizing the different opportunities and norms pertaining to different disciplines; and

·  to operate procedures expeditiously.

1.3. Equality of opportunity. The Scheme is part of the University’s academic staff development process and is administered in the context of the policy on equality of opportunity.

2. The Lecturer Promotions and Establishment Board.

2.1. Terms of Reference. The Board’s terms of reference are:

·  to consider progress of Senior Lecturers and Lecturers who are serving a probationary period;

·  to consider the establishment of Senior Lecturers (excluding promoted staff) nearing the end of their establishment period and making recommendations thereon to the President;

·  to consider applications from Lecturers for progression across the merit bar and make recommendations thereon to the the Academic Board as delegated by the Academic Council;

·  to consider the establishment of Lecturers nearing the end of their establishment period and making recommendations thereon to the the Academic Board as delegated by the Academic Council;

·  to consider applications from Lecturers for promotion to Senior Lectureship grade, and making recommendations thereon to the the Academic Board as delegated by the Academic Council;

·  to carry out the foregoing tasks in accordance with the terms of the relevant Schemes as adopted by the Governing Body; and

·  to report from time to time, and at least once in every four years, on its operation of the Scheme.

2.2. Membership. The Board’s composition shall be:

·  President (ex officio),

·  Registrar (ex officio),

·  Two members appointed by the Governing Body, and

·  Eight academic members (Professors, Professor (Scale 2) and Senior Lecturers) made up of representation from each of the four Colleges, the composition of which to be determined by the Academic Council. These members shall be appointed by the Academic Council following consultation as to the academic membership with the Colleges. Appointments shall be staggered, with four members being appointed every two years, to serve a 4-year term of office.

The membership of the Board shall have gender representation. Casual vacancies shall be filled as above from within the relevant constituencies, without delay. The Secretary to the Board is the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development (or his/her representative).

2.3. Role of the President. The President shall not participate in the Assessment Process as described in Part 5 below.

2.4. Independent external academic. An independent, senior academic from outside UCC shall be co-opted to the Board for the Senior Lecturer promotion evaluation process. His/her role shall be to observe, and if necessary bring to the attention of the Board procedural issues associated with the overall process and the workings of the Board during its deliberations concerning the evaluation of applications for promotion.

2.5. Conduct of business. At least 75% of the members of the Board must be present when decisions are taken regarding ranking of candidates for promotion. A code of practice which addresses the conduct and potential conflicts of interest of Board members is in place.

3. The Promotional Pool.

3.1. Number of available posts. Applications for promotion to Senior Lecturer shall normally be invited every two years. All candidates shall be given an indication at the time of application of the number of promotional posts available.

3.2. The promotional pool. It is the University’s practice to create tranches of promotional posts at Senior Lecturer level from time to time. This is referred to as the “Promotional Pool”. The number of promotional posts available for each round of applications is determined by the Governing Body, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee following advice from the University Management Team. In practice, the number of posts in the pool is usually restricted, and the number of posts that can be filled in any one process is limited. The number of promotional posts available at any one time may depend on the overall budgetary situation of the University, and may be subject to any relevant guidelines issued by the Higher Education Authority under the terms of the Universities Act 1997.

3.3. Constituencies. For the purposes of promotion there are currently two constituencies:

·  College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences; College of Business and Law;

·  College of Science, Engineering and Food Science; College of Medicine & Health.

The member Schools/Departments/Disciplines of each constituency are set out in Appendix B. Each constituency shall be allocated a quota of promotional posts open to its members only. A specified number of other promotional posts shall be open to members of either constituency during any one promotional process. These posts – allocated and open - shall be filled provided that sufficient applicants have been deemed to have achieved the minimum benchmark scores to qualify for promotion (see part 5 below). The assignment of joint appointments to a constituency shall be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

4. Application Procedure.

4.1. Closing date. The call for applications shall normally be made during the summer, and the closing date shall be no sooner than three months thereafter. No supplementary materials will be accepted after the closing date, unless specifically requested by the Board.

4.2. Submission of applications Application is made by completing and submitting one hard copy and one PDF version of the following which is to be compiled as one document:

·  Form P1 (SL), available from the Department of Human Resources. Form P1 (SL) shall contain a summary of the two portfolios described below plus full details of the Contributions area.

·  A Teaching Portfolio of no more than 20 pages (inclusive of all supporting documentation). This should be reflective of the teaching approach and activity and organised in sections corresponding to the Teaching benchmarking criteria detailed below:

-  Teaching and examining contribution (including details of the candidate’s full timetable with module titles and codes, student numbers, times and rooms);

-  Quality of teaching (including Integration of Research and Teaching);

-  Leadership and Curriculum design and development; and

-  Innovation and personal development in Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methodology.

·  A Research Portfolio of no more than 20 pages (inclusive of all supporting documentation, but excluding the publication list). This should be reflective of the research approach and scholarly standing, and be organised in sections corresponding to the Research benchmarking criteria detailed below:

-  Publications (a complete list of publications, reports and conference papers containing full bibliographical data (including page numbers));

-  Supervision of research students and research staff;

-  Research funding, leadership and collaboration;

-  Other scholarly activity.

Citation data and other evidence of scholarly recognition (such as research awards and prizes, reviews, and references to the candidate’s work by other scholars) can also be included.

In the interests of equity, the Board reserves the right not to consider additional information submitted beyond the stated page limit.

In addition, candidates are required to submit two sets of their top five peer-reviewed publications (for assessment by External Reviewers). These publications shall be returned to candidates when the promotions process is complete.

4.3. Student Evaluation Questionnaires. Part of the assessment of performance under the Teaching and Examining benchmark criteria includes evidence of quality of teaching as demonstrated by feedback from student evaluation questionnaires for each candidate. This exercise may be conducted by the Quality Promotion Unit, or another independent body and the questionnaire results analysed and presented to the Board. Candidates are free to supply other evidence of teaching performance.

4.4. References. At the time of application, candidates must nominate an internal (i.e.UCC) referee. Internal referees may not include the current Head of Academic Unit but may include Emeritus Professors of UCC provided that he/she has retired within the previous six years. The candidate is asked to arrange for these references to be submitted directly to the Secretary of the Lecturer Promotions & Establishment Board for receipt by the closing date.

4.5. Input by Head of Unit. A copy of the completed application Form P1 (SL) shall be forwarded to the relevant Head of Academic Unit, who shall be asked to complete a Form P3. Under certain extraordinary circumstances (such as where an applicant is in a grade equal to, or higher than, that of the Head/Acting Head of Academic Unit, or is in competition for promotion with the Head), alternative arrangements shall be put in place by the Board. In completing Form P3, the Head of Academic Unit is required to consult with any Professors and/or Professors (Scale 2) in the academic unit. Candidates are required to sign that they have read the completed Form P3 prior to its submission to the Board by the Head of Academic Unit. Space shall be provided on the form for candidates’ comments (if any) on the information and assessment supplied by the Head of Academic Unit.

4.6. External Reviewers: Selection. At the time of application candidates shall be asked to nominate two national or international External Experts in their general discipline. The Board shall then request nominations from these experts of independent External Reviewers of high international standing and repute in the applicant’s area of research or cognate area (other than themselves), from amongst whom the Board shall select two reviewers. Any connections of the nominated External Experts to UCC, or to the candidate, must be specified on the applicant’s P1(P) form in accordance with the Code of Conflict of Interest in relation to Recruitment and Promotions.

4.7. External Reviewers: Report. The two External Reviewers shall be asked to assess in particular the candidate’s research portfolio, publication record and scholarly standing. Any connections of the nominated Experts to UCC, or to the candidate, must be specified on the applicant’s P1 form.
The External Reviewers conducting the assessment shall be sent copies of the candidate’s application form, research portfolio, the publication list and the five top peer-reviewed publications selected and submitted by the candidate. They shall be asked to submit a full written report on the applicant’s activities and achievements under the criteria specified under the Research and Scholarly Standing area and professional contributions area in relation to the applicant’s particular discipline.

4.8. Verification. The Board reserves the right to verify any information submitted by the candidate.

5. The Assessment Process.

5.1. Scoring of candidates. All applicants for promotion to the grade of Senior Lecturer shall be assessed and scored, using all the available documentation, against benchmarking criteria grouped under three broad areas:

·  Teaching and Examining;

·  Research and Scholarly Activity; and

·  Contribution to School/Department/Discipline, College/Faculty and University, and Community.

The detailed benchmarking criteria are set out in Appendix A. Each criterion is assessed within a mark range, and in assessing applications, both qualitative and quantitative measures shall be applied. A set of indicative activities and achievements is given under each criterion; these are indicative rather than prescriptive, and should not be seen as representing the sole/complete set of such relevant activities and achievements pertinent to the criterion. Each broad area shall have an allocation of 100 marks within the overall assessment process. In the case of each benchmark criterion under the three areas, a candidate’s performance shall be judged relative to the majority, but not necessarily all the indicative activities and achievements, together with any further disciplinary-specific activities that the External Reviewers, referees and Board consider relevant to that benchmark criterion.

5.2. Minimum scores. To qualify to be considered for promotion, candidates must score at least 60 of the 100 marks allocated to both Teaching and Examining and Research and Scholarly Activity, and 40 of the 100 marks allocated for Contribution. In addition, applicants must achieve an overall aggregate benchmark score of at least 200/300 to be eligible for promotion.

5.3. Clinical Practice. A fourth criterion, Clinical Practice, shall apply to applicants in clinical areas in the College of Medicine and Health. which shall also be scored out of 100. Candidates assessed under this set of benchmark criteria must score at least 60 of the 100 marks allocated for Clinical Practice , and an overall benchmark score of at least 267/400 to be eligible for promotion.