Working hours and tasks

Tasks and account of working hours for academic staff

The agreement on working hours and the account of hours operate within a system of STANDARDS, i.e. with standards for agreed tasks, and not as a registration of the actual number of working hours.

Hourly compensation in connection with teaching, examinations and administrative tasks will be calculated in accordance with standards specified in the Agreement_on_working_hours_at_the_Faculty_of_Arts__2023-2025__signeret.pdfStore_Bededag_aendrer_status_fra_fridag_til_arbejdsdag_med_loenkompensation.pdf (Danish only) and supplementary agreements at faculty or school level regarding the duties of staff. Imbalance in a single semester is not critical, but it is a joint responsibility for the individual staff member and the management to achieve a balance over several semesters.

On page five of the agreement there is a list of the tasks included in the account of working hours.

In addition to these tasks, staff members can make agreements on special tasks with their head of school, head of department or director of studies. Each head of department administers a kitty of departmental hours, the size of which is determined by the head of school and the director of studies based on the number of staff members and educational programmes within the department. This kitty can be used to award up to 20 hours to academic staff for the performance of special tasks; for example concerning development of the academic content of educational programmes, including extensive revisions of academic regulations.

Working hours in connection with research activities and knowledge exchange (e.g. coordination of a research unit, preparation of research applications, planning of conferences and editorial work) are not registered, cf. page five in the agreement on working hours at the Faculty of Arts. 

Annual cycle for the account of working hours

Teaching and examination hours are registered in two separate periods.

Spring semester: teaching in the period between 1 February and 31 August, as well as re-examinations.

(Courses taught at summer university are registered in the spring semester because examinations are held in the summer examination period)

Autumn semester: teaching in the period between 1 September and 31 January and re-examinations.

The registration of all other tasks is based on the calendar year; i.e. spring semester = January-June, autumn semester = August-December.

An annual cycle has been prepared for registering and updating data, which entails that: 

  • Teaching budgets are registered for the spring semester in January and for the autumn semester in July-August.
  • Academic staff’s performance of special duties and membership of boards and committees are updated prior to the start of each semester.
  • All members of teaching staff have the opportunity twice yearly to submit amendments and additions to their registered working hours: in October for the spring semester and in March-April for the autumn semester. Information regarding deadlines for any changes will be distributed via email and the School’s newsletter. Only after this deadline can the registered working hours be considered true and final; until then, all figures are provisional.

Working hour standards for permanent staff

The distribution between research and other tasks is specified in the agreement on working hours, p. 2-3. 

  Full-time staff

Hours earmarked for teaching, examinations and administration each semester

Professors

495

Professors with special responsibilities (MSO)

495

Associate professors

495

Assistant professors (ordinary, 3 years)

495 (a semester with no teaching obligations, where the norm is set to zero, is to be agreed with the head of department – in accordance with the agreement between the union representative and DPU)

Full-time research assistant with only teaching assignments

660

Please note: For staff members whose employment is financed externally (including post docs), working and teaching hours, examinations and administration are calculated on an individual basis.

Participation on councils, boards and committees

The annual hourly compensation for participation on most committees is fixed in the local agreement for the Faculty of Arts regarding hourly compensation and supplements for specific responsibilities. For meeting forums not mentioned in this agreement, compensation is determined on the basis of the average number of hours spent on meeting activities and preparations.

For all members of staff, 25 working hours are allocated a year for academic and social meetings etc.

MEMBERS OF 

Hours per semester 

Academic Council (member)

37,5

Academic Council (chair)

150

Boards of studies

37,5

Board of studies, chair DPU

200

Degree programme boards, member

25

PhD committee, Arts

30

PhD committee, chair, Arts

100

PhD, standing assessment committee, DPU

11 or 15 (Hours scaled according to number of PhD students)

School forum

18

Research committee (departmental representatives only)

18

There is no hourly compensation for meetings held in the school management team, as they form part of the duties of the head of department.

Supervision and assessments

Academic assessment of applicants for full-degree Master’s programmes: 15 minutes per applicant (determined by the faculty).

Assessments of PhD dissertations and appointments cf. the agreement on working hours, p. 12 and 13.

SUPERVISION

Hours per semester

PhD principal supervisor

A total of 120 hours (distributed over 6, 7 or 8 semesters) 

PhD co-supervisor

A total of 60 hours (distributed over 6, 7 or 8 semesters)

Assistant professor supervision

Teacher training programme for assistant professors

A total of 30 hours

A total of 150 hours

ASSESSMENT 

Calculated as hours + per applicant

PhD dissertations (chair)

30 (resubmittal: 20)

Higher doctoral dissertations (chair)

60

Advance assessment, if the dissertation is not
accepted for defence or another person is elected
chair of the committee

16 hours for higher doctoral dissertations

8 hours for PhD dissertations

Professorships (shortlisting)

Chair: 50 hours for shortlisting, assessment work and participation in the recruitment process

If number of assessments exceeds 5: 5 hours per assessment.

Members of assessment committee, the entire process: 17 hours 

If number of applicants exceeds 20: 2 hours for every 5 applicants (chair and members)

Associate professorships (shortlisting)

Chair: 40 hours for shortlisting, assessment work and participation in the recruitment process

If number of applicants exceeds 20: 1 hour per every 5 applicants

If number of assessments exceeds 5: 3 hours per assessment

Members of assessment committee, for the entire assessment process, up to 20 applicants: 15 hours

If number of applicants exceeds 20: 1 hour for every 5 applicants  

Assistant professorships (shortlisting)

Chair: 35 hours for shortlisting, assessment work and participation in the recruitment process.

If number of applicants exceeds 20: 1 hour per every 5 applicant

If number of assessments exceeds 5: 2 hours per assessment

Members of assessment committee, for the entire assessment process, up to 20 applicants: 13 hours

If number of applicants exceeds 20: 1 hour for every 5 applicants  

Postdocs 5 hours per assessment + 1 hour per applicant, max. 23 hours per appointment

Part-time lecturers' lectureships

Short-term appointments: Half an hour per applicant

Long-term appointments (over 3 years): to be agreed with the head of school 

Teaching assistants and research assistants (following advertisements) Half an hour per applicant

Exams

The number of hours spent per examination is determined on the basis of the type of examination stipulated in the academic regulations and on the basis of the agreement on working hours, p. 8.

The number of assessed examinations will be compensated for, including failed exams.  

TYPES OF EXAMINATION

Calculated as follows

Oral examinations of 20 minutes

30 minutes

Oral examinations of 30 minutes

45 minutes

Oral examinations of 40 minutes

1 hour

Oral examinations of 60 minutes

1½ hours

Assignments/synopses of max. 5 standard pages

30 minutes

Written assignments

6 minutes per page

  • Note that hours are registered using a decimal format. For example, 20 minutes should be registered as 0.33 hours.
  • Hours will not be allocated for written assignments that are not submitted.
  • Individual supervision of master’s theses (20 hours) is registered for the semester in which the supervision contract is agreed. A further 7 hours are registered following assessment, giving a total of 27 hours for the supervision and assessment of a master’s thesis.
  • If thesis contracts are extended, a further 5 hours are allocated for supervision.