How to become a university lecturer? (1 Viewer)

[dizzlemizzle]

And is it very competitive?

 

[Chemical Ali]

Well first you'll need a Bachelor's Degree, at this point you may or may not get a good enough GPA to qualify for...
Honours Year, during which you may or may not be good enough at research to earn 1st class and get into a...
PhD, which takes about "3" (i.e. 5) years, during which your research needs to be strong enough to get lots of good publications in quality journals so that when you're finished (you've now been at uni for up to 10 years and your friends have houses and families) someone will want you for a...
Post-Doctoral fellowship, which take about 3-4 years EACH (i.e. no long-term job security but at least you're getting paid ~60k now for 10 years qualifications), during which you better be pumping out a heap of high-impact publications and writing lots of grant proposals so that when someone dies (they don't really retire) you might just be competitive enough (but don't bet on it) for an...
Entry level Faculty Position at a university, now you can start directing your own research more, but it better be good so you can attract students of your own (by this I mean honours and phd students, not teaching undergrads) keep making publications so you can attract maximum funding and hence keep your job. As you progress you might eventually become an Associate Professor or even Professor. In this case your job will be 90% admin, managing students and managing your lab/department. In between that work, which does not end when you go home and has no real holidays, you will be asked by your institution to do a certain number of hours of...
Lecturing, congratulations, you now get to "waste" a number of hours each week talking at apathetic undergrads, managing their constant whining and finding someone to mark their papers

enjoy
(tl;dr version: you don't)

 

[khorne]

There's no such thing as a uni lecturer, as chem ali said above.

Universities are about research, teaching is just a way to bring in money for said research (which enhances a unis performance, brings in more students, bringing in more money, creating more research, enhancing the unis performance...like a hue positive feedback loop). Ofc the admins of it all line their pockets nicely at the end.

 

[VIPPER]

I heard you have to make a 90,000 word thesis for PHD. I was interested in becoming a lecturer before I heard about that.

 

[khorne]

lol

90,000 word thesis

Longer than that bro (I guess depends on what you do)

 

[Chemical Ali]

I heard you have to make a 90,000 word thesis for PHD. I was interested in becoming a lecturer before I heard about that.

I'm allowed up to 200 pages I think

That's really the least of your worries though

 

[SylviaB]

don't.

 

[izzy88]

There's no such thing as a uni lecturer, as chem ali said above.

Universities are about research, teaching is just a way to bring in money for said research (which enhances a unis performance, brings in more students, bringing in more money, creating more research, enhancing the unis performance...like a hue positive feedback loop). Ofc the admins of it all line their pockets nicely at the end.

I just have to correct one thing - there are teaching only positions at universities now. No one likes them, because a university academics aim is to research, however uni's are using teaching only positions as a way to cut costs, and/or force out academics who aren't performing in their research capacity (by making them teaching only). Look at what USYD is doing at the moment...

Regarding academia - do it if you have a passion for it - but don't think that it will be easy to get a job - tenured positions are practically non existent nowadays - mostly people are hired on contract, and uni's are in general facing funding shortages etc. it can be very competitive.

 

[Chemical Ali]

I just have to correct one thing - there are teaching only positions at universities now. No one likes them, because a university academics aim is to research, however uni's are using teaching only positions as a way to cut costs, and/or force out academics who aren't performing in their research capacity (by making them teaching only). Look at what USYD is doing at the moment...

Regarding academia - do it if you have a passion for it - but don't think that it will be easy to get a job - tenured positions are practically non existent nowadays - mostly people are hired on contract, and uni's are in general facing funding shortages etc. it can be very competitive.

Correct, but most of those teaching positions (i.e. the ones not already filled by people better than you) are very temporary or only a few hours per week. Also, in the USA and maybe soon in Australia, universities are starting to want their academics to have some basic teaching qualifications (e.g. even a 1 year certificate) as universities continue to transform into degree mills, so that perhaps in the future a potential academic will need some minimum qualification in education/teaching.

 

[D94]

You do not require a PhD. Some excellent lecturers have little more than a Bachelors, but with extensive experience and insight, e.g. Richard Buckland.

 

[Phoenix Fury]

You do not require a PhD. Some excellent lecturers have little more than a Bachelors, but with extensive experience and insight, e.g. Richard Buckland.

Yup, was gunna say this.
Depends a lot on the uni itself and the faculty, sometimes a Bach + some exp is all you need, for teaching esp you dont need a lot depending on what specific courses you're lecturing.

 

[enoilgam]

You do not require a PhD. Some excellent lecturers have little more than a Bachelors, but with extensive experience and insight, e.g. Richard Buckland.

Yup, was gunna say this.
Depends a lot on the uni itself and the faculty, sometimes a Bach + some exp is all you need, for teaching esp you dont need a lot depending on what specific courses you're lecturing.

Agreed, some of my best lecturers have little more then a bachelors degree. Some of my worst had the alphabet soup after their names. In the future though I reckon that unis with probably move more towards "teaching staff" with less emphasis on academics.

 

[Shadowdude]

I know one of the best lecturers of maths at UNSW - Peter Brown - he just has an Arts degree or something.

"How do we solve this? INSPIRATION!"

 

[khorne]

They are an exception more so than the rule

having a b degree and teaching a b degree is basically like being one lesson ahead of the kids and teaching piano. It's not enough

 

[Drongoski]

Pay is relatively shit. You have to be among the best. Australia does not value its intellectuals. Why would you want to be an academic unless you are intellectually that way inclined.

 

[Timothy.Siu]

I know one of the best lecturers of maths at UNSW - Peter Brown - he just has an Arts degree or something.

"How do we solve this? INSPIRATION!"

that's a bit of disrespect
he has a masters. but i get your point lol. he's excellent.

 

[Chemical Ali]

I'd like to see what these guys hours, security and job prospects look like though

 

[soloooooo]

Obtain a PhD first. Without significant industry experience instead of a PhD it would be hard to break into academia.

 

[theism]

depends on the subject.

first of all you need a degree, like a bachelors.
you can be a tutor, and just have a bachelor.
if you want to become more than that, like a lecturer, you'll need a masters with honors.
to become a senior lecturer, you'll need years of experience as a lecturer, and good feedback from students.

you also have to publish alot of work in journals, and get cited in peer review journals in order to progress from there into a profressor role.
most professors have Ph.Ds.

 

[Shadowdude]

that's a bit of disrespect
he has a masters. but i get your point lol. he's excellent.

He does? My information is wrong then

ah well.

But yes, the guy's good. I have him for... Linear Algebra next sem - I believe. Should be great!