North Dakota University System - Higher Education Research Institute

The three activities that deal primarily with teaching include scheduled teaching (actual, not
credit hours), preparing for teaching (including reading student papers and grading), and advising
and counseling students. Faculty at all three types of NDUS institutions reported, on average,
more hours spent per week in both classroom teaching and preparation than the national
averages. Time spent on advising and counseling students was consistent with the national data
across the three types of institutions.
North Dakota faculty spent more time teaching than their peers nationwide irrespective of the
type of institution. Overall, North Dakota two-year college faculty indicated they spent an
average of 38.5 hours each week on teaching-related activities compared to 31.2 hours per week
by their peers nationally. North Dakota four-year institution faculty indicated they spent 33.2
hours weekly in teaching-related activities while their peers nationally spent only 28.6 hours.
And North Dakota doctoral institution faculty reported spending 27.5 hours each week on
teaching-related activities while faculty nationwide spent 24.1 hours.
When considering differences among the three types of institutions in North Dakota relating to
how NDUS faculty spend their time each week, there was a balance that occurred between
teaching and research. NDUS faculty who may have taught fewer hours per week reported more
hours in research, scholarly writing, and creative products/performances. And the opposite was
true as faculty who designated fewer hours to research devoted more time to teaching. For
example, faculty members at NDUS doctoral institutions reported fewer hours of teaching (27.5
hours per week) than faculty members at NDUS two-year institutions (38.5 hours per week).
However, those faculty at NDUS doctoral institutions also reported more hours in research and
creative activities (10.9 hours per week) than NDUS two-year faculty (3.0 hours per week).
Faculty at NDUS four-year institutions reported spending an average of 6.8 hours per week.
Overall, North Dakota faculty spent less time in research and creative activity than did their
peers at comparable institutions. Faculty at North Dakota’s doctoral institutions spent two hours
less per week on research than did their peers nationally. At the four-year and two-year
institutions, NDUS faculty members spent one and one-half hours less than their colleagues
nationwide. Further investigation would need to be conducted to account for the additional time
spent in teaching rather than in research and creative activity. Factors such as the mission of the
institution, what activites are emphasized, job descriptions of faculty, teaching loads, and types
of classes (lecture versus lab) must be considered.
Other faculty responsibilities of committee work, meetings, administration, consultation, service,
and outside consulting also made up the total number of hours given to job-related activities. An
average of about four hours per week were reported for committee work and meetings by NDUS
faculty at all three institutions. Administrative tasks occupied approximately three and one-half
hours per week for NDUS faculty members. Service, in addition to teaching and research,
composed the three major job-related activities of college faculty. Nearly 83 percent of NDUS
faculty spent about three hours per week in providing community or public service. About 37
percent of NDUS faculty spent time in outside consulting or freelance work. Of those, about one
hour per week was spent on the activity.
It should be noted that how faculty reported spending their time on job-related activities may not
have been completely accurate. The limitation was due to the HERI categories listed on the
survey. There may have been other areas on which NDUS faculty spent their time each week
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