You’re responsible for teaching and supervising your students
You might have wondered how many hours university lecturers have to teach? Well, the number of hours might vary, depending on the university you serve. In my case, I have to teach two subjects every semester, with three credit hours (each credit hour equivalent to 45 to 48 contact hours) for each subject. Since all my students are postgraduate students, most of my classes are scheduled on weekends, and I have to travel from the Kuala Lumpur campus to the Johor Bahru campus quite often. In addition to teaching, you also need to supervise MBA, PhD, and DBA students.
Research is a must
Apart from teaching and supervision, you’re also expected to perform research works, especially if you’re working with a research university. Publish journal articles and books, presenting papers at conferences, securing research grants are among the KPIs for a university lecturer. For a senior lecturer at one of the research universities in Malaysia like me, I have to secure four university grants, one industrial grant, and two international grants each year. In addition to that, I need to publish six journal articles with 3 of the journal must be indexed by SCOPUS, WOS or ERA), four conference proceedings, and two other types of publications such as books and technical reports. Wish me all the best! Not to forget, you must be able to secure RM132,000 public funds from the government or university and RM200,000 industrial funds, including contract research! Of course, the KPIs are much higher for those holding associate professor and full professor positions.
You need to carry out consultation work
Most of the universities in Malaysia encourage their academicians to involves in consultation activities. What are the benefits of consultation activities? Other than increasing knowledge transfer to public and private sector groups, consultation works are able to enhance the university’s external engagement.
You’re expected to perform community work
This will be in the form of volunteering jobs to local communities such as organizing humanities projects for primary school kids, volunteering work at the national zoo, or getting involved in various clubs and activities.
You have to hold an administrative position at the university and/or faculty level
Being an academician, you cannot run away from being appointed for the administrative position, whether at the faculty or university level. For example, you need to serve as an academic director, research manager, or even dean of the faculty. The appointment is mostly on a rotation basis, which each appointment may last for a year or more. Depending on the university and the position you’re holding, you might get an allowance for doing the job. But of course, it’s come with responsibilities. In my case, I’ve held several administrative positions since I serve AHIBS for the past five years. Research manager, Head of a PhD program, facility manager, facility coordinator, IT Manager, and journal editor are a few of the administrative positions that I’ve held.
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