The factors UK academics consider most important for promotion

The view was consistent across all disciplines, but was felt more strongly by those from high- and medium-ranked departments, as measured by the percentage of research rated as 4* in the research assessment exercise.

The survey of almost 22,000 academics asked respondents to score each of five factors according to their importance in career advancement, giving each factor a weight from one to five.

Academics from low- and medium-ranked departments placed slightly more weight on administrative duties than their high-ranked peers. These ranks also considered administration to be a more important factor in promotion than teaching ability and workload.

The survey shows that, on average, academics in low-ranked departments consider working with business and industry to be slightly more important for promotion than teaching, while these factors were on a par in medium- ranked departments.

Of the available options, working with the local community was considered by all to be the least important.

The survey was carried out by the Centre for Business Research and the UK- Innovation Research Centre and published in a report titled The Dual Funding Structure for Research in the UK.

elizabeth.gibney@tsleducation.com