Academic staff

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Academic staff, also known as faculty (in North American usage) or academics (in British, Australia, and New Zealand usage), are vague terms that describe teachers or research staff of a school, college, university or research institute.

In British and Australian/New Zealand English, "faculty" usually refers to a sub-division of a university (usually a group of departments).

In contrast, in North America "faculty" refers to the people who teach and research, and is distinguished from "staff", who are hired in administrative, operations, and support roles. For example the Faculty Handbook at Boston University defines faculty as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors, those with professorial titles modified by “Research,” “Clinical,” and “of the Practice, Lecturers of all ranks, and Instructors.^[1]

In the United States and parts of Canada, universities, community colleges and even some secondary and primary schools use the term faculty. Other institutions (e.g., teaching hospitals or not-for-profit research institutes) may likewise use the term faculty. In parts of the US, the term academic staff can be synonymous with just staff, which instead refers to staff that is not primarily involved with teaching or research.

The higher education regulatory body of India, University Grants Commission, defines academic staff as teachers, librarians, and physical education personnel.^[2][3]

In countries like the Philippines, faculty is used more broadly to refer to teaching staff of either a basic or higher education institution.