Policy Statement

Prince Sultan University’s strategic plan enables the University’s faculty and staff achieve their full potential while appropriately rewarded for their contributions. The present policy establishes the foundational criteria and procedures to be applied to faculty promotion applications.

Background and Justification

Faculty promotion has a significant impact on the progression of the organization. The faculty promotion system in higher education institutions plays a vital role in incentivizing the scientific activities, performance improvement and faculty retention. It is an indicator of an academic success of faculty members and the University. The policy can be used as a guide for establishing promotion criteria and procedures based on standards that acknowledge and reward the efforts of the faculty members in a transparent manner.

Scope and Purpose

The present policy shall provide guidelines for the faculty promotion process. This policy applies to all faculty members with the appropriate academic ranks seeking the promotion to higher academic ranks.

Definitions:

• aculty:F A full-time teaching staff member.
• Assistant Professor: A faculty member who has a Ph.D. from a recognized university and holds the officially-established academic rank of an assistant professor.
• Associate Professor: A faculty member who has a Ph.D. from a -recognized university and holds the officially-established academic rank of an associate professor.
• Professor: A faculty member who has a Ph.D. from a recognized university and holds the officially-established academic rank of a full professor (professor in short)

Requirements for Promotion

General Requirements

The requirements for the faculty promotion are in accordance with the regulations set forth by Prince Sultan University’s regulations. A Faculty member is evaluated for promotion based on the following three criteria:

• Academic Production
• Teaching
• Service to the university and society

Promotion to Associate Professor

Candidates applying for promotion to the rank of an associate professor should fulfill the following requirements:

• At the time of promotion, the applicant should have no less than four years’ experience as an Assistant Professor at a recognized institution of higher education. At least one of those years of experience should be at Prince Sultan University.
• The minimum academic production required shall be four research units published or accepted for publishing. Two of the research units at least should be from work in which the applicant is a single author constraint.
• It is allowed for the applicant promotion to replace the individual (singly authored) work stated in the 32nd and 33rd articles of the regulation with two first-author works published or accepted for publication in ISI-indexed medium
• All academic production used for the sake of the promotion should have been published or accepted for publishing while the applicant was an Assistant Professor.
• Further requirements are specified in the Promotion Guidelines.

Promotion to Professor

Candidates applying for promotion to the rank of a full professor should fulfill the following requirements:

• At the time of promotion, the applicant should have no less than four years’ experience as an associate professor at a recognized institution of higher education. At least one of those years of experience should be at Prince Sultan University.
• The minimum academic production required shall be six research units published or accepted for publishing. Three of the research units at least should be from work in which the applicant is a single author. Upon a recommendation from the academic board, the university board may decide not to be apply the single author condition.
• It is allowed for the applicant promotion to replace the individual (singly authored) work stated in the 32nd and 33rd articles of the regulation with two first-author works published or accepted for publication in ISI-indexed medium.
• All academic productions used for the sake of the promotion should have been published or accepted for publishing while of the applicant was an Associate Professor.
• Further requirements are specified in the Promotion Guidelines.

Definition of Research Units

A research unit is a unit of measurement that is used to give weight to academic productions being considered for the purpose of promotion:

• One unit is earned for any academic production in which the applicant is a single author.
• Half a unit is earned for any academic production in which the applicant is one of two co-authors.
• Half a unit is earned for any academic production co-authored by more than two persons provided the applicant is the first author.
• A quarter unit is earned for all other cases. The academic production submitted in support of an application for promotion shall not be extracted from a master’s or doctorate’s dissertation/ thesis. Nor should the academic production be extracted from academic productions used for pervious promotions. In case the applicant includes such academic productions in the application, the academic board shall ban the applicant from applying for promotion for one full academic year starting at the date of this decision.

Academic Productions

The types of acceptable academic productions for promoting a faculty member are according to Ministry of Education regulations:

• Published research or research accepted for publishing in recognized academic journals.
• Published research or research accepted at recognized academic conferences and symposia. Only one unit of this production shall be considered for the sake of promotion.
• Published research or research accepted for publishing by recognized university research centers or other academic organizations.
• Published or accepted for publishing textbooks and academic references. Only one unit of this production shall be considered for the sake of promotion.
• Refereed verification of rare books. Only one case of this activity shall be considered for the sake of promotion.
• Refereed translations of specialized academic books. Only one case of this activity shall be considered for the sake of promotion.
• Patents issued by recognized organizations.
• Any other production that is recognized as an innovative production. Only one unit of this production shall be considered for the sake of promotion.

Additional information

List of recognized academic journals, academic conferences and symposia, university research centers, academic organizations, patent organizations are available from the University Research Center. The University Council shall be the final judge on whether the refereeing mentioned in the above types is acceptable and whether an academic production can be considered as an innovative production.

Promotion Procedures And Administrative Routing

The applicant should fill the form and submit it to his/her Department Chair along with electronic copies all needed documents as stated in the checklist.

Evaluation of the application

Referees evaluating the application should give a grade for each component of the application as follows:

• A maximum of 60 (sixty) points should be awarded for evaluating academic production submitted as part of the application. A minimum of 35 is needed for promotion to Associate professor. A minimum of 40 is needed for promotion to Full professor.
• A maximum of 25 (twenty-five) points should be awarded for evaluating the teaching statement and teaching services and plans mentioned in the teaching statement as part of the application.
• A maximum of 15 (fifteen) points should be awarded for the community service and plans mentioned in the community service statement as part of the application.
• To be promoted, a faculty member must accumulate a minimum of 60 (sixty) points.
• Promotion to the rank of Associate Professor shall be decided by the majority of the three referees, while promotion to the rank of Professor shall be decided unanimously by the three referees. If two referees approve the application for promotion and the third referee disapproves it, the academic production shall be referred to a fourth referee whose opinion shall be final.

References

Faculty Promotion Guidelines (link of HR will be given later)

See Appendix

APPENDIX- FACULTY PROMOTION POLICY FLOWCHART