Academic Titles and Promotions Policy

  1. Purpose

The purpose of the Academic Titles and Promotions Policy (‘the Policy’) is to:

  • recognise and reward academic staff who contribute to the Institution’s vision and goals, and whose workplace behaviour reflects the Institution’s values.
  • provide an identifiable career pathway for academic staff, and
  • foster a culture of performance excellence.
  1. Scope

All eligible full-time, part-time and sessional staff, including academic managers in the senior staff group who hold substantive academic staff positions. This policy does not apply to casual or contractor staff, nor does it apply to the recruitment of new staff.

  1. Definitions

See Glossary of Terms.

  1. Policy principles  

Academic promotions at the Institution are based on the following principles:

  • Strategic alignment – Promotion criteria are aligned with the Institution’s strategy and reward activity that makes a sustained contribution to the achievement of the Institution’s vision and outcomes.
  • Excellence – The promotion process recognises and rewards staff who demonstrate and are committed to excellence in learning and teaching, impactful research/scholarship, industry engagement and service.
  • Fairness – The Institution is committed to a fair and transparent promotion process that incorporates evidence-based decision-making.
  • Equal opportunity – The Institution is committed to providing equality of opportunity for all staff, factoring in an academic’s contribution relative to opportunity when assessing promotion applications in line with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy.
  • Flexibility – The promotion process accommodates a range of academic contributions across different career paths, roles and disciplines that align with the Institution’s vision and new ways of working.
  • Impact – Promotion decisions are evidence-based, focusing on the outcomes of an academic’s work.
  • Equivalence – Academic performance is expected to be equivalent to what is typically expected in the higher education sector and to align with the Higher Education Industry Academic Staff Award to ensure the academic excellence and mobility of academic staff.
  1. Policy statements

Academic levels

5.1 Academic levels are differentiated by the degree of complexity of the role, level of autonomy and achievement of the academic. The responsibilities of academic staff may vary according to the specific requirements of the Institution to meet its objectives and/or may vary according to individual staff development.

5.2 Below are the descriptors of academic levels for teaching and research academic staff (based on the Higher Education Industry Academic Staff Award 2020):

Level A – Associate Lecturer

A Level A academic works with support and guidance from more senior academic staff and is expected to develop their expertise in teaching and research with an increasing degree of autonomy. A Level A academic normally has completed four years of tertiary study or equivalent qualifications and experience and may be required to hold a relevant higher degree.

A Level A academic normally contributes to teaching at the Institution at a level appropriate to the skills and experience of the staff member, engage in scholarly, research and/or professional activities appropriate to their profession or discipline, and undertake administration primarily relating to their activities at the Institution. The contribution to teaching of Level A academics is primarily at undergraduate and graduate diploma level.

Level B – Lecturer

A Level B academic undertakes independent teaching and research in their discipline or related area. In research and/or scholarship and/or teaching a Level B academic makes an independent contribution through professional practice and expertise and coordinate and/or lead the activities of other staff, as appropriate to the discipline.

A Level B academic normally contributes to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, engage in independent scholarship and/or research and/or professional activities appropriate to their profession or discipline. They normally undertake administration primarily relating to their activities at the Institution and may be required to perform the full academic responsibilities of and related administration for the coordination of an award course of the Institution.

Level C – Senior Lecturer

A Level C academic will make a significant contribution to the discipline at the national level. In research and/or scholarship and/or teaching they will make original contributions, which expand knowledge or practice in their discipline.

A Level C academic normally makes a significant contribution to research and/or scholarship and/or teaching and administration activities of an organisational unit or an interdisciplinary area at undergraduate and postgraduate level. They normally play a major role or provide a significant degree of leadership in scholarly, research and/or professional activities relevant to the profession, discipline and/or community and may be required to perform the full academic responsibilities of and related administration for the coordination of a large award course or a number of smaller award courses of the Institution.

Level D – Associate Professor

A Level D academic normally makes an outstanding contribution to the research and/or scholarship and/or teaching and administration activities of an organisational unit, including a large organisational unit, or interdisciplinary area.

A Level D academic makes an outstanding contribution to the governance and collegial life inside and outside of the institution and will have attained recognition at a national or international level in their discipline. They make original and innovative contributions to the advancement of scholarship, research and teaching in their discipline.

Level E – Professor

A Level E academic provides leadership and foster excellence in research, teaching and policy development in the academic discipline within the Institution and within the community, professional, commercial or industrial sectors.

A Level E academic will have attained recognition as an eminent authority in their discipline, will have achieved distinction at the national level and may be required to have achieved distinction at the international level. A Level E academic will make original, innovative and distinguished contributions to scholarship, researching and teaching in their discipline. They will make a commensurate contribution to the work of the Institution.

5.3 A call for promotion applications is normally made once a year. The Institution reserves the right to not make any call for applications or open only certain levels of promotions depending on business needs.

5.4 The call for applications, if made, will specify the effective date of promotions.

Eligibility

5.5 Full-time, part-time or sessional academic staff are eligible to apply for academic promotion under this Policy where they have completed at least two years’ aggregated service at their current level (excluding casual service and leave without pay) following the effective date of their last promotion or appointment. An exception to the two-year requirement can be made for those who held an Associate Professorship or Professorship immediately before their appointment at the Institution but the roles of Associate Professor and Professor were not available at the time of their appointment.

5.6 Academic managers, such as the DVC, Dean/Associate Dean and Program Managers, carry both their managerial and academic titles if they are promoted to the professoriate.

5.7 Unsuccessful applicants are required to wait for two years before submitting a future application. In exceptional circumstances, an application may be accepted after one year. Intending applicants should make a written submission to the DVC (Learning and Teaching) requesting an exemption.

5.8 Any academic staff member who has provided notice of their resignation, retirement or has accepted redundancy, including voluntary redundancy, are ineligible to apply for promotion.

Assessment

5.9 Suitability for promotion is assessed against four key domains of academic performance:

  • Learning and teaching
  • Scholarship and/or research
  • Industry and professional practice
  • Service, leadership and civic engagement

5.10 Applicants must also demonstrate high personal standing in terms of workplace behaviour, including ethical and collaborative behaviour, respect for others and personal accountability.

5.11 In line with the Institution’s commitment to providing opportunities for all staff irrespective of their personal circumstances and recognising that the tradition of full-time work and uninterrupted linear careers may not match the profile of some staff, the principle of performance relative to opportunity is taken into consideration in the promotion process. Such an approach acknowledges what has been achieved by an applicant given the opportunities that have been available to them. Circumstances that are relevant may include:

  • Ill health, disability or misadventure
  • Caring responsibilities
  • Part-time or flexible working arrangements
  • Parental leave
  • Impacts of pandemics and natural disasters

However, specific career strategies such as different balances of research/scholarship, teaching, professional practice and civic leadership are considered separately and not under relative to opportunity performance evaluation.

5.12 Applicants should refer to the Academic Promotions Procedures for details of the assessment criteria, application process, requirements and timeline.

5.13 Applications that do not meet the published submission deadline are not be accepted.

Academic Promotion Panel

5.14 Applications are assessed by an Academic Promotion Panel.

5.15 Based on the recommendations made by the Academic Promotion Panel, the President and Managing Director (President) issues offers of promotion to successful candidates. Not all academic promotions will result in salary increases.

5.16 The Academic Promotion Panel has the following membership:

  • Chair: Chair of the Academic Board (ex-officio)
  • President (ex-officio)
  • DVC (Learning & Teaching) (ex-officio)
  • Two external members who hold a current Associate Professorship or Professorship at an Australian university or university college; a maximum term of 3 years
  • Secretariat: Vice President (People and Training) or delegate (not a voting member)

5.17 The DVC nominates the two external members to be approved by the Chair. When making nominations and approvals, both the DVC and Chair should aim for diversity in gender, culture/ethnicity, age, disciplinary background and experience on the Panel.

5.18 Members of the Panel do not act as advocates for applicants.

5.19 Applicants for promotion should not be members of the Panel. If any ex officio members of the Panel are applying for promotion, the Chair appoints a replacement.

5.20 Members of the Panel must declare any real or perceived conflict of interest with any applicant. The Chair must appropriately manage that conflict of interest and document how it is managed.

5.21 The quorum of a Panel meeting is all members. Recommendations for promotions require consensus from all Panel members.

5.22 The Secretariat of the Panel is responsible for convening Panel meetings, preparing meeting minutes, detailing the recommendations and their justification. These minutes must be classified and stored in line with the Institution’s Records Management and Personal Information Procedures.

5.23 The DVC offers to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants on behalf of the Panel.

5.24 All members of the Panel are required to observe confidentiality of the process and information submitted to the Panel.

 Grievances

5.25 Unsuccessful applicants may lodge a grievance on the grounds of lack of due process. Grievances must be lodged in line with the Institution’s Employee Handbook. A panel’s assessment on the academic merit of an application is final and will not be the subject of a grievance.

Honorary Professor

5.26 Honorary Professor is not a promotion level but a title endorsed by the Academic Board and approved by the Board of Directors to a person who is not employed as a permanent member of academic staff for the term of the proposed appointment and is capable of furthering the reputation of the Institution. They may be either an expert in their field from professional practice/industry and need not have an academic background, or an academic from another higher education provider who is to have a continuing relationship with the Institution. Their term of appointment and duties are determined by the Academic Board.

5.27 The Board of Directors has the right to withdraw an appointee’s honorary title before their term of appointment expires.

  1. Roles and responsibilities

6.1 The Academic Board is responsible for approving and overseeing the implementation of this Policy and the Academic Promotions Procedures.

6.2 The Chair of the Academic Board also chairs the Academic Promotion Panel.

6.3 The DVC (Learning and Teaching) is a member of the Academic Promotion Panel. They offer to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

6.4 Vice President (People and Training) or delegate serves as the Secretariat of the Academic Promotion Panel.

6.5 The President is a member of the Academic Promotion Panel. They also issue offers of promotion according to the recommendations made by the Academic Promotion Panel.

6.6 The Board of Directors approves the appointment of Honorary Professors only.

  1. Related documents

Academic Titles and Promotions Procedures

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy

Records Management and Personal Information Procedures

Employee Handbook

Approved by the Board of Directors on 5 December 2023