HIGHER EDUCATION

ROLE OF FACULTY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Pramila Gupta ISSN 2277-7733
Department of Physics, Volume 11 Issue 2,
S. S. Khanna Girls’ Degree College, Prayagraj September 2022
Abstract
We know intuitively that the role of faculty can have an enriching effect on the daily lives
of students and their lifelong educational and career aspirations. These effective faculties
also have a direct influence in enhancing student learning. Years of research on teacher
quality support the fact that role of faculty make students feel good about Alma matter
and student achievement. Studies have substantiated that a whole range of personal and
professional qualities are associated with higher levels of student achievement.
Keywords: education, higher education, teacher, faculty, research
Faculty members are the most important components of the higher
education system. Academic development of faculty members is crucial and
necessary for the success of the higher education system because teaching
staff are the prime movers and catalysts for all round development of
students. The faculty members play a significant role not only in improving
the quality of higher education but also maintaining it; the professional
competency of teachers has to be of such a high level so as to impart quality
knowledge to the students. This would call the continuous upgrading of the
professional development of the teachers, which is key guarantee of quality
education. Teachers need continuous self-development to generate
knowledge that goes to contribute towards inculcating high professional
competency among students. Development of teachers depends on many
factors. It is closely linked with the quality of research, participation in
national and international seminars, faculty exchange programs,
enhancement of qualifications, exposure to recent developments, writing
of books and papers, collaborating with fellow research. The major portion
of this article will focus on the responsibility of faculty as collective entities
and related trends within higher education.
The roles and responsibilities of college and university faculty members are
closely tied to the central functions of higher education. Correspondingly,
college and university faculty members undertake research, teaching, and
service roles to carry out the academic work of their respective institutions.
Each of these roles enables faculty members to generate and disseminate
knowledge to peers, students, and external audiences. The balance among
teaching, research, and service, however, differs widely across institution
types and by terms of the faculty member's appointment. The teaching role
of faculty members reflects their centrality in addressing the primary
educational mission among colleges and universities. As faculty members
teach, they disseminate and impart basic or applied knowledge to students
and assist students with the learning process and applying the knowledge.
In this construction of the teaching role, the teacher is the content expert,

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and students are regarded as learners or novices to the academic discipline

or field of study. Faculty members are expected to follow developments in
the field so their expertise and knowledge base remain current. As research
is an inherent component of the functions of a University, every faculty
member shall take active efforts to make research contributions in his/her
field of specialization. Those who act as research supervisors should spare
adequate time to the research scholars for discussion and monitor their
progress, so that not only the quality of work is improved but also time
over-run can be avoided.
Consequently, an emphasis on faculty members as facilitators of students'
learning has emerged. This focus on learning incorporates a broad set of goals
for learners, such as student’s mastery of content, their abilities to consider
and critique, and particularly in professional fields, the development of skill
sets that enable students to undertake career positions. Faculty member, as
an expert in his subject can bring the subject matter in very easy way to the
level of student understanding, logical and systematic. Although effective
teaching is rewarded, teaching may be seen as less prestigious and less well
rewarded than success in conducting research and securing external funding.
At virtual universities, faculty members may not teach so much as participate
in creating instructional modules and provide feedback to students on their
degrees of success in mastering specified knowledge.
Each faculty member is required to maintain the record of class work,
attendance and continuous assessment neatly, properly and in time. They
may organize parent teacher meeting to maintain the list of students under
him / her, their parent/local guardian contact address/phone/mail ID etc.,
so that the student’s progress could be monitored and communicated to
them. The class adviser shall also maintain cumulative record of attendance
for the courses undergone by the student course-wise. Thus by counseling
of poorly performing students and the follow up action are required to take
to improve slow learners. As a faculty adviser, the faculty member is
required to motivate students under his/her care and also help them while
they face any other general problems till they leave the University.
The faculty is responsible for assessing students' learning, and a wide range
of strategies may be used, such as tests, papers, and project-oriented
demonstrations of knowledge. In addition, he / she is required to keep a
file containing question papers set by him/her for the course handled, copy
of answer sheets of the students after evaluation, for production to the
academic audit. A faculty is required to conduct and invigilate any
exam/test in the university. Such test/exam may be for the course taught
by him/her or for any other course assigned by the Head of
Department/Controller of Examinations of the University. A faculty
member while evaluating answer scripts, oral examination/project work
evaluation, should scrupulously be objective in his/her approach so that
the student can earn the marks/grading for his/her performance only.

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A faculty member should give their contribution prepare of new syllabus

or updating of existing syllabus. A faculty is expected to be creative so as to
contribute to the introduction of new academic programs in the emerging
areas relevant to the society, innovative curriculum and new methodology
of teaching and evaluation. In a natural sciences class, students may conduct
experiments or field work in regular laboratory sessions to complement
their growing conceptual knowledge and hone their inquiry skills. A faculty
member is required to involve in the laboratory development activities of
the Department by introducing innovative experimental setups/
instruments/computer software/ computer control of machines or
processes. As a member of the faculty, he / she should ensure that the
various consumable and non-consumable equipment in the laboratory and
workshop are maintained in working condition and are used effectively
both for academic requirement, project works and research related activities
by utilizing various budget properly.
A faculty member is required to arrange guest lectures, industrial visits,
educational tours and accompany the students to visits/tours as student
exchange program with host Institution to supplement regular lectures. A
faculty member if nominated as chairperson of different committee,
registrar such as Treasurer, Adviser of Professional Society functioning in
the Department/University he/she shall perform such duties accordingly.
A faculty member is required to coordinate National / International
conferences / seminars / symposium / workshop. A faculty member
should submit project proposals to the funding agencies for financial
assistance to conduct seminars, conferences, etc. The faculty member has
to serve as a member of any enquiry committee or as a member of various
committees whenever the Department/University organizes major events
such as Sports Day, Annual Day, Technical and Cultural Festivals, etc.
Faculty members are liable to be assigned the responsibility of Warden of
the hostels run for the benefit of students for a specific period of time and
for this service they shall be given perquisites in addition to their salary.
Faculty members should also take part in activities related to NCC, NSC,
NSS, Red Cross Society, Alumni Association, and other activity related to
Institutional development.
More emphasis is placed on the faculty research role in large universities in
part because large universities also house the majority of graduate programs
and provide resources to support the pursuit of research agendas.
Additionally, research-oriented faculty members often participate actively
in generating internal and external monetary support to underwrite their
laboratories or specific research projects. Faculty rewards often are based
on the extent to which faculty members contribute to their disciplines
through publishing articles and books, presenting research findings, giving
performances and exhibits, or disseminating their work to external
audiences in other ways. Additionally, rewards may also be based on the

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faculty member's success in securing funding from external public agencies

or companies. The extent to which faculty members have a research role as
part of their work responsibilities depends largely on the mission of the
employing institution, with larger universities more likely to have research
and knowledge creation as a significant part of their missions. Although
higher education institutions are most often the sites for and sponsors of
faculty members' research, the primary audience for most academic
researchers is their national and international community of disciplinary
colleagues. Faculty members with active research agendas and involvement
in their disciplinary communities have been regarded as more cosmopolitan
in orientation, with stronger allegiances and loyalties to their disciplines
than to their home institutions.
As research publications in refereed journals of international importance
not only improve the individual’s image but also of the institution, every
faculty member should strive to bring out such quality publications. Faculty
members should publish their research output only in various esteemed
journals and publications in non-refereed journals will not be recognized.
Moreover, faculty members shall also strive to file patents if their research
output is felt new and novel. Depending upon the research content, the faculty
member may also present papers in International/National level conferences,
take efforts to bring out his/her research work other than refereed journal
papers, in the form of books or chapters in the books published by the
international/National level publishers with ISBN/ISSN numbers. The faculty
members will be provided financial incentives for publications in refereed
journals taking into account the impact factor, total citation.
An important source of financing and professional recognition to the
University is sponsored and funded research projects. Therefore, every
faculty member should browse the web sites of various funding agencies,
advertisement, etc., periodically and submit research proposals in the
proper format to those agencies to secure funding assistance for research
and acquiring facilities such as equipment, instruments, etc. The faculty
member as a Principal Investigator can also use the services of students and
research scholars, wherever possible. Many funding agencies provide
funding assistance for establishment of centres of excellence. A faculty
member may also examine and send proposal pertaining to his/her
department or interdisciplinary ones for establishment of such Centre.
Students should also be encouraged by faculty members to submit
proposals for securing funding assistance for student projects from
different agencies.
A faculty member should take efforts to organize refresher courses,
seminars, workshops not only for the benefit of faculty members but also
for participants of industry and society at large. Such programs could be
self-supporting or sponsored ones. Conduct of continuing education
programs / structured courses to meet specific requirement of the industry

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and society is yet another way of augmenting resource for the University. A
faculty member can organize such programs either one time or on continual
basis year on year.
The faculty member shall follow the detailed guidelines/procedure issued
by the ministry of human resource development. In order to be an effective
faculty, he/she is required to update his/her knowledge by attending faculty
development programs, short–term courses, professional society meetings,
National/International Conferences, reading recent technical journal
articles and periodicals and going through the web sites of world class
Universities. These qualities of contribution of faculty will not only helpful
in the development of student future but also in institution accreditation by
University Grant Commission. As a result, they are responsible for
contribution and sustenance of the standards of the institution. They should
comply with the relevant policies, rules, regulations, norms and standards set
to guide their work. While every individual member is accountable for his /
her action, as member of the University community, they are collectively
accountable for upholding those standards of behavior and for compliance
with all applicable rules, regulations and code of conduct.
The main objective of role of faculty is to create high understanding of
human values and soft skills to actualize these in their personality and
behaviour of faculty and students leading to peace and harmony for
sustainable success in carrier and happiness. Thus, higher education
requires special emphasis and has major role to play in determining the
quality of life and the pace of development of a nation and the world as a
whole. It is the responsibility of the higher education system to ensure that
the skills, understanding and output of the students are equal to the best in
the world.
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