One of the workstreams of the Academic Reward Project, has been working with colleagues from across our academic community, together with the UCU, to consider aligning the University of Southampton to international academic titles, nomenclature and standards.
A proposal was agreed by Senate in June, and approved by Council in July. As a result the title of Associate Professor will be adopted by the University. This supports the University’s aspirations of growth and globalisation as well as achieving greater distinction and recognition.
All newly appointed or promoted academics will be awarded this title from 1st January 2014 and all existing academic staff at Level 6, on a mixed pathway of research and education, will be invited to adopt the title of Associate Professor over the coming months. Following much discussion within the workstream, and following representation from UCU, it has been agreed that the University will not adopt the title of Assistant Professor.
Individuals who have been identified as holding a role equivalent to that of Associate Professor, will be invited to adopt the new title and it is hoped that the majority of academics will accept this invitation. However, we recognise that some staff will wish to retain their current title and so we are giving individuals the choice. We will also write to all other Level 6 staff in the ERE pathway to confirm that they are not being offered the title. An exceptions process will be in place to deal with any cases where individuals believe they should be invited to adopt this title.
To this end we will be writing to individuals in November to ask if they wish to change their title with effect from 1st January 2014. With effect from that date we will no longer offer the title of Senior Lecturer or Reader to staff we recruit or promote.
I would like to thank all colleagues in the workstreams and HR Reward who have been involved in developing these proposals for their hard work and consideration.
Adam Wheeler, Provost