• Section 1 - Purpose and Objectives
• Section 2 - Definitions, Terms, Acronyms
• Section 3 - Policy Scope/Coverage
• Section 4 - Policy Statement

Section 1 - Purpose and Objectives

(1) This Policy identifies the four categories of academic staff and the main academic roles undertaken by academic staff at UQ. The University recognises the diversity of academic achievement and acknowledges that academic roles and activities may vary over the course of an academic’s career. For some academic staff this may lead to a change of academic category.

Section 2 - Definitions, Terms, Acronyms

Section 3 - Policy Scope/Coverage

(2) This Policy applies across the four categories of academic staff at UQ.

(3) Refer to the Criteria for Academic Performance Policy for specifications of University expectations for different categories of academic staff and different roles. The Guidelines on Evidencing Academic Achievement can be referred to for a broad (but not exhaustive) range of evidence of academic activities, outcomes, quality and impact. These guidelines also acknowledge the diversity of academic achievement and provide a general description of academic categories and activities.

Section 4 - Policy Statement

(4) The University of Queensland’s commitment to excellence is supported by an academic staffing profile that spans the continuum from Research Focused through Teaching and Research to Teaching Focused and Clinical Academic appointments.

(5) According to the category of academic appointment, academic roles may include a combination of teaching, scholarship of teaching and learning, research and creative work, service, engagement and clinical innovation. The Criteria for Academic Performance Policy specifies the roles that are relevant to academic categories. However, within these roles there is a wide range of activities which academic staff may be expected to undertake. The patterns of academic activity vary widely across academic categories and disciplines. While there are common elements, the balance between them may be different from one discipline to another. Furthermore, the amount of time required for each activity may be dependent on the discipline, and in many disciplines some of these activities could also lead to opportunities for industry linkage and commercialisation. The Criteria for Academic Performance Policy offers guidance as to the performance expected of the academic staff member across the five classification levels in each academic category. The criteria outlined in this Policy are the formal University expectations and any expectations of academic performance set at the school, faculty or institute level are subordinate to these criteria and must be consistent with them.

(6) The Guidelines on Evidencing Academic Achievement lists a range of examples of academic performance indicators.

(7) Across the course of an academic’s career, it is possible to choose to transition from one type of academic category to another by varying the mix of activities and following a transition of academic category process, as set out in the Academic Categories Procedure.