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Academic organizations typically have a rather rigid set of ranks. Those listed below refer specifically to universities, although colleges and other institutions may follow a similar schema.

Australia and New Zealand

Academic ranks

  • Professor
  • Associate Professor
  • Senior Lecturer
  • Lecturer
  • Associate Lecturer
  • Tutor

Administrative ranks

  • Chancellor (titular)
  • Deputy Chancellor / Pro-Chancellor (titular)
  • Vice-Chancellor
  • Deputy Vice-Chancellor
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor
  • Registrar
  • Dean
  • Head of School

Brazil

At the University of Sao Paulo the academic rank system is:
  • Titular Professor (Professor Titular)
  • Associate Professor (Professor Associado): must hold a Livre Docente title
  • Doctor Professor (Professor Doutor): must hold an PhD or equivalent degree
  • Assistant Professor (Professor Assistente): must hold an MSc or equivalent degree
  • Teaching Assistant (Auxiliar de Ensino): bachelor degree

In the Federal Universities the academic ranks receive other names:

  • Professor Titular
  • Professor Adjunto
  • Professor Doutor or Professor

Canada

Academic ranks

Faculty (Professors):
  • Distinguished Professor or University Professor
  • Professor (or "Full Professor")
  • Associate Professor
  • Assistant Professor

Non-faculty and/or temporary
  • Adjunct faculty member
  • Sessional lecturer, Instructor, Research Associate, and miscellaneous other ranks holding a Ph.D.
  • Postdoctoral fellow (sometimes including lecturing experience).
  • Research and/or teaching staff not holding a Ph.D. (e.g., research technicians, lab managers, etc.)
  • Graduate student or professional student (law, medicine, music, nursing, accounting, etc.). Graduate students often serve as teaching assistants (TAs) and/or research assistants (RAs). In Canada, graduate students are further ranked by degree, with Ph.D. students outranking Master's students (unlike in the U.S., a Master's degree is commonly completed before beginning a Ph.D. program).
  • Undergraduate student. Undergraduate students are ranked simply as 1st Year ("Frosh"), 2nd Year, 3rd Year, and 4th Year students.

Administrative ranks

  • Chancellor (honorific)
  • President and Vice-Chancellor (dual title)
  • Provost
  • Vice Presidents (VP Academic, VP Research, VP Finance, etc.)
  • Associate Vice Presidents (Assoc. VP Academic, Assoc. VP Research, Assoc. VP Finance, etc.)
  • Deans (often also Full Professors)
  • Associate Deans (often also Full Professors)
  • Directors of Administrative Departments
  • Associate/Assistant Directors of Administrative Departments
  • Chairs of Academic Departments (usually Full Professors)

Cyprus

Academic ranks

Finland

  • Chancellor (only in the Universities of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and in Åbo Akademi.
  • Rector
  • Vice Rector
  • Dean or the Head of Faculty
  • Professor
  • Senior Assistant (post-doc or senior Ph. D student position), Laboratory Engineer (a formally administrative position, the holders of which often conduct research and teach, however)
  • Assistant, Research Associate, Research Scientist (Ph.D. student positions)
  • Research Assistant (undergrad or Master's student position)
  • Student

Norway

Elected faculty positions:

  • Rektor (Rector; one per university; usually assisted by prorektor and/or viserektor)
  • Dekan (Dean; one per faculty; formerly Dekanus (males) and Dekana (females), sometimes assisted by a prodekan)
Professorial ranks: Postdoctoral ranks:
  • Førsteamanuensis (associate professor)
  • Førstelektor (senior lecturer; lecturer who holds a doctorate)
  • Postdoc (senior research fellow; postdoctoral fellow)
Postgraduate ranks:
  • Amanuensis (assistant professor; very rare)
  • Universitetslektor (lecturer)
  • Stipendiat (research fellow; PhD-student)
  • vitenskapelig assistent (research assistant; usually a graduate student)

Germany

  • Professor (Full, usually called a C4 or since 2004 W3 professor according to the German salary scheme)
  • Professor (Associate, C3 or W3)
  • Privatdozent (after Habilitation, not a paid position)
  • Juniorprofessor or Akademischer Rat or Wissenschaftlicher Assistent (Assistant Professor)
  • Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow (a Ph.D. is not a prerequisite but endeavouring to undertake a Ph.D. is often required when accepting these positions))
  • Doktorand (Ph.D. student, not a paid position)
  • Student

Hong Kong

Academic ranks

In the past Hong Kong follows the British system. In recent years it is moving towards the North American counterpart, with the titles renamed to their corresponding equivalence. Institutions established in the 1980s and 1990s almost entirely follows the North American system, while older ones, notably the The University of Hong Kong is in the process of transition. * Depending on institutions, the title of "Professor" is assumed by chair professors and professors, or assistant professors and above.

Administrative ranks

United Kingdom

Academic ranks

Administrative ranks

There are two systems of administrative ranks - one for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and one for Scotland.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland

Spain

Academic ranks

Faculty (Professors):
  • Catedrático de Universidad (chair, sometimes "Full professor")
  • Profesor Titular de Universidad
  • Catedrático de Escuela Universitaria (must hold an PhD or equivalent degree)
  • Profesor Titular de Escuela Universitaria

Non-faculty and temporary:
  • Profesor Visitante
  • Profesor Asociado
  • Profesor Contratado Doctor
  • Profesor Colaborador
  • Profesor Ayudante Doctor
  • Profesor Ayudante

Administrative ranks

  • Rector (usually a Catedrático de Universidad)
  • Vicerrector
  • Secretario General
  • Gerente
  • Decano or Director (often also a Catedrático de Universidad)
  • Vicedecanos or Subdirectores
  • Secretario del Centro
  • Director de Departamento
  • Secretario de Departamento

United States

Academic ranks

Regular faculty:

  • Distinguished Professor or University Professor
  • Professor (sometimes informally called "Full Professor")
  • Associate Professor
  • Assistant Professor
  • Instructor

Traditionally, Assistant Professor has been the usual entry-level rank for faculty who hold doctorates. Although Instructorships seldom require a doctorate, competition for jobs has led to an increase in the number of Instructors who hold Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees. The rank of Associate Professor usually indicates that the individual has been granted tenure at the institution. Professor is often the highest rank attained by a senior faculty member, however some institutions may offer the title of Distinguished Professor to a senior faculty member whose research or publications have achieved recognition beyond the university.

Temporary faculty and those with special appointments:

"Adjunct" before the name of a rank (Adjunct Assistant Professor, etc.) may indicate a part-time or temporary appointment. Adjunct status may also be given to a faculty member from another academic department whose research or teaching interests overlap substantially with those of the appointing department.
"Visiting" before the name of a rank (Visiting Assistant Professor, etc.) almost always indicates a temporary appointment, often to fill a vacancy that has arisen due to the sabbatical or temporary absence of a regular faculty member.

"Research" before the name of a rank (Research Assistant Professor, etc.) usually indicates a full-time research position with few or no teaching responsibilities. Research professorships are almost always funded by grants or fellowships apart from the regular university budget.

"Clinical" before the name of a rank (Clinical Assistant Professor, etc.) usually indicates a part-time teaching position with limited research responsibilities, especially in the health sciences.

The ranks of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer are used at some American universities to denote permanent teaching positions with few or no research responsibilities. At other American universities, the rank of Lecturer is equivalent to that of Instructor.

Other teaching and research personnel:

At some universities, librarians have a rank structure parallel to that of the regular faculty (Assistant Librarian, Associate Librarian, Librarian). Some senior librarians, and often the head librarian, may have faculty or faculty-equivalent rank.

Fellowships and Research Associate positions are most often limited-term appointments for postdoctoral researchers. They are not usually regarded as faculty positions, although some teaching may be required.

At most American universities, research technicians, lab managers, and related personnel are generally regarded as administrative staff rather than faculty.

Administrative ranks

  • President
  • Chancellor (sometimes outranking President)
  • Vice-Chancellor
  • Provost
  • Assistant Provost
  • Vice Presidents (VP Academic, VP Research, VP Finance, etc.)
  • Associate Vice Presidents (Assoc. VP Academic, Assoc. VP Research, Assoc. VP Finance, etc.)
  • Deans (often also Full Professors)
  • Associate Deans (often also Full Professors)
  • Directors of Administrative Departments
  • Associate/Assistant Directors of Administrative Departments
  • Chairs of Academic Departments (usually Full Professors)

Poland

Research-and-teaching staff (higher rank):
  • professor assistant (asystent)
  • associate professor (adiunkt)
  • professor extraordinarius (profesor nadzwyczajny)
  • professor ordinarius (profesor zwyczajny)
and also for a special purpose:
    • visiting professor (profesor wizytujący)
    • professor emeritus

Teaching staff (lower rank):

  • lecturer (wykładowca)
  • senior lecturer (starszy wykładowca)
  • instructor (instruktor)
  • lector /foreign language teacher/ (lektor)

Indonesia

Academic ranks

There are 9 ranks, in total, which can be categorized to 3 main levels.

2 levels; equivalents with Assistant Professor:

  • Asisten Ahli Madya
  • Asisten Ahli

5 levels; equivalents with Associate Professor:

  • Lektor Muda
  • Lektor Madya
  • Lektor
  • Lektor Kepala Madya
  • Lektor Kepala

2 levels; equivalents with Professor:

  • Guru Besar Madya
  • Guru Besar

See also

Academia | Titles | Education, training, and library occupations

Beosztás (felsőoktatás)

 

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