Academic posts at Oxford

This is the main academic grade at Oxford.

Associate Professors are appointed for an initial period of up to five years, at the end of which a review takes place with a view to granting tenure, which at Oxford is called ‘reappointment to retirement’.

There are two basic types of associate professorship depending on the nature of the college association.

1. Associate Professorships with a tutorial fellowship

Associate professorships with a tutorial fellowship include college teaching duties. The associate professor’s teaching time will be split between duties for the University (undergraduate lectures, teaching masters and doctoral students etc) and duties for the college (tutorial, ie very small group teaching, and associated pastoral and administrative duties). The split between University and college duties will vary depending on the type of Tutorial Fellowship.

2. Associate Professorships with a non-tutorial fellowship (NTF)

Associate professors with a non-tutorial fellowship hold a fellowship with their associated college which does not include college teaching duties. This may be because the college does not admit undergraduates, or because there is no undergraduate teaching in their particular role or subject area (eg Education). They receive 100% of their salary from the University in return for greater teaching and/or administrative duties for the department or faculty in comparison to a Tutorial Fellow.  Their association with a College may also bring with it some responsibilities in the College, for example being a Trustee and member of the Governing Body. 

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This is a senior academic grade at Oxford. Professors are expected to take an academic leadership role within their department or faculty as well as more widely in the University and beyond. They may concentrate on teaching masters and doctoral students but some will give undergraduate lectures as well.  The majority of professorships (also known as “chairs”) are statutory, ie they are permanent posts within the University’s legislation and staffing structure. Statutory Professorships are always associated with a college but do not hold a tutorial fellowship, and 100% of their salary comes from the University Occasionally a fixed-term professorship may be created in particular circumstances. Statutory professorships may be named and/or endowed.

Titular Professorships

Particularly distinguished individuals in academic or senior research roles may be awarded the title of full professor, either in a regular exercise (Recognition of Distinction) for the conferment of titles, or as cases arise on recruitment or in between exercises. The award of the title does not change the post or the duties of the holder; it is simply a means of recognising an individual’s academic distinction.

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Readership posts were formerly posts at an intermediate level between that of full professor and associate professor. No new appointments are being made to readerships, but there are existing Readers.

In addition, some staff hold the title of reader but this title is no longer available for new conferrals.

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There are a range of other posts in the University which have functions which might be described as ‘academic’ but do not fall within the narrower description of academic set out above.

Departmental Lecturerships

Departmental lecturers undertake teaching and research in their subject. These are often fixed-term appointments. They may be linked to a college on a personal basis, but these posts do not involve holding a tutorial fellowship.

Language teaching posts

Language teaching in Medieval and Modern Languages, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Theology and Religions and Classics is carried out by Instructors and Language Lecturers and, for modern languages, native-speaker Lectors. These staff are not expected to carry out research (although some may do) and are not normally attached to a college. Some colleges also employ specialist language teaching staff.

Senior research posts

Many of the staff employed on senior research posts will undertake some teaching, although the principal focus of their role is research. A number of them hold the title of Associate Professor or the title of Professor. These staff may be linked to a college on a personal basis but their posts do not carry an association to a college.

College Lecturerships

Many colleges appoint their own staff to teach their undergraduate students. College lecturers generally have a link to the relevant department or faculty but are not employed or paid by the University.

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