Definitions and Calculations

THE DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF DATA IS JANUARY 31, 2008.

NOTE: As you read the definitions and calculations referred to below, you should examine the copy of the data collection form also found on this website.

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT/DISCIPLINE:

The disciplines selected for benchmarking in the Delaware Study are found in the "Classification of Instructional Programs" taxonomy, which is derived directly from the National Center for Education Statistics' CIP Code system. Wherever possible, we are benchmarking data at the four-digit CIP code level. That is, we will be looking at discrete disciplines within a broad curricular field. (See note below.) For example, in Engineering, CIP Code 14.XX, you will be asked to provide data for those engineering disciplines at your institution. Suppose you had five engineering departments - agricultural, chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical. You would provide data for five discrete CIP Codes, i.e., 14.03 (Agricultural Engineering), 14.07 (Chemical Engineering), 14.08 (Civil Engineering), 14.10 (Electrical Engineering), 14.19 (Mechanical Engineering), etc. Institutions with different engineering departments would report data for the appropriate four-digit engineering CIP codes. The pattern would be repeated across other curricular areas. If you have difficulty disaggregating categories within a specific disciplinary area, there is a general CIP code, typically XX.01, that should be used. For example, if your Department of Foreign Languages offers French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Greek, and Latin, and you cannot cleanly disaggregate teaching workload and cost data into each of these disciplines, simply report the data as "Foreign Languages and Literature," CIP Code 16.01. If a disciplinary area provides no "general" option, and you cannot cleanly disaggregate to specific curricular area, report a two-digit CIP code, e.g. Engineering-Related Technologies would be 15.00.

NOTE: Within the CIP Code family, 51.XX, we ask that you exclude Medicine and Medical Sciences, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Optometry and Ophthalmic Medicine, and Podiatry. We will accept all other allied health sciences (e.g. Nursing, Physical Therapy, Medical Technology, Pharmacy, etc.)

Do not submit data for non-academic programs such as Military Science.

Members of the Southern Universities Group and a number of other institutions and consortia have asked to benchmark at the six-digit CIP level. All participating institutions are encouraged to provide six-digit CIP codes in as many instances as feasible, and we will benchmark at that level wherever possible. Those data will then be rolled up to the four-digit level, at which all institutions will be benchmarked, consistent with the discussion above.

DEGREE OFFERINGS:

Please indicate all of the degrees, i.e., bachelors, masters, doctorate or first professional, offered in this discipline at your institution. In the space next to each of the degrees, we ask that you provide the average number of degrees awarded in the discipline for each of the past three academic years, as indicated on the respective IPEDS Completions Reports. For new programs where there have been no graduates to date, institutions are to indicate the expected number of degrees awarded during the first year of each applicable degree level. The Delaware Study will benchmark, among other filters, data based upon highest degree offered and undergraduate/graduate program mix based on the number of degrees granted.

PART A: INSTRUCTIONAL WORKLOAD - Fall 2006 SEMESTER

NOTE: The following discussion of faculty should be read within the context of your institution's Fall 2006 census data. Be sure each CIP reported contains the faculty and their associated workload budgeted within the given department. That is, please use an "origin of instructor" method of reporting.

Regular Faculty:

Regular faculty are defined as those individuals who are hired for the purpose of doing teaching, and who may also do research and/or service. They are characterized by a recurring contractual relationship in which the individual and the institution both assume a continuing appointment. These faculty typically fall into two categories:

Tenured and Tenure-Eligible:  Those individuals who either hold tenure, or for whom tenure is an expected outcome. At most institutions, these are full, associate, and assistant professors.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty:  Those individuals who teach on a recurring contractual basis, but whose academic title renders them ineligible for academic tenure. At most institutions, these titles include instructors, lecturers, visiting faculty, etc.

Supplemental Faculty:

Supplemental faculty are characteristically paid to teach out of a pool of temporary funds. Their appointment is non-recurring, although the same individual might receive a temporary appointment in successive terms. The key point is that the funding is, by nature, temporary and there is no expectation of continuing appointment. This category includes adjuncts, administrators or professional personnel at the institution who teach but whose primary job responsibility is non-faculty, contributed service personnel, etc.

Teaching Assistants:

Students at the institution who receive a stipend strictly for teaching activity. Includes teaching assistants who are instructors of record, but also includes teaching assistants who function as discussion section leaders, laboratory section leaders, and other types of organized class sections in which instruction takes place but which may not carry credit and for which there is no formal instructor of record. For purposes of this study, do not include graduate research assistants.

In calculating full time equivalency (FTE Faculty) for each of the faculty categories described above, the following conventions are recommended:

REGULAR FACULTY:

Take the TOTAL FTE for filled faculty positions as they appear in the Fall 2006 personnel file at your institution, and report this in the "Total FTE Faculty" data fields (Column A on the Data Collection Form). Be sure to report filled positions only. Filled positions are those that have salaries associated with them. Include paid leaves such as sabbaticals wherein the individual is receiving a salary, but exclude unpaid leaves of absence. In Column B, report the FTE portion of faculty lines that are supported by external or separately budgeted funds for purposes other than teaching, i.e., research or service. The remainder is the departmental or program instructional faculty FTE, and should be reported in the "Instructional" FTE faculty data field. That is, The FTE for Column C is computed by subtracting Column B from Column A. For example, suppose Professor Jones is a full time member of the Chemistry Faculty. He would be reflected as 1.0 FTE in Column A. Professor Jones has a research grant that contractually obligates him to spend one-third of his time in research. The externally supported portion of his position is 0.33 FTE, which would be reflected in Column B. As a result, 0.66 FTE is the instructional faculty which would appear in Column C, i.e., 1.0 FTE (Column A) minus 0.33 FTE (Column B). If faculty teach overload, their 1.0 FTE and regular load of SCH and OCS should be in the appropriate T/TT or Other Regular line of their home department.  If they taught an overload course which is also paid for by their home department, then the overload FTE (0.25 for one 3 credit course taught) would be counted as Supplemental faculty, and their overload SCH and OCS reported in the Supplemental line of their home department. Note: Part B should include any overload SCH as long as the overload is being funded from the faculty’s home department. If another department is paying for the overload, then the overload FTE, SCH and OCS should be reported as Supplemental faculty in the paying department, along with the overload SCH and expenditures in Part B of the department funding the overload salary (the regular load, 1.0 FTE, and salary should remain in the faculty’s home department).

SUPPLEMENTAL FACULTY:

Full time equivalency for supplemental faculty can be calculated by taking the total teaching credit hours (which are generally equivalent to the credit value of the course(s) taught) for each supplemental faculty, and dividing by 12. Twelve hours is a broadly accepted standard for a full time teaching load. (If your institution assigns one course unit instead of three or four credit hours to a course being taught, use a divisor of 4) Because Supplemental Faculty generally are not supported by external funds, Column C will typically equal Column A.

TEACHING ASSISTANTS:

You are asked to assign an FTE value to teaching assistants, apportioned between credit bearing course activity where the teaching assistant is the instructor of record, and non-credit bearing course activity (i.e., section leader for zero-credit laboratories, discussion sections, recitation sections). To do this, take the FTE value for teaching assistants in a given academic department or program, as it appears in your personnel file. Then apportion the FTE as follows:

Credit Bearing Courses:   Use the same convention as with Supplemental Faculty. Take all courses which are credit bearing and for which teaching assistants are the instructors of record, and divide the total teaching credit hours by 12. The resulting quotient is the teaching assistant FTE for credit bearing course activity.

Non-Credit Bearing Activity:  From the total teaching assistant FTE, taken from your personnel file, subtract the calculated FTE for credit bearing activity as outlined above. The difference is the FTE for non-credit bearing activity. It is understood that on many campuses, the non-credit bearing activity is not exclusively instructional, and may include activities such as grading papers. However, the decision to allow teaching assistants to do things other than teach is analogous to allowing other departmentally paid faculty types to take reduced loads to engage in non-teaching activity. In both instances, salaries are associated with personnel, and in the interest of consistency, the personnel should be counted as a component of common practice in higher education.

NOTE: In looking at student credit hours generated, by level of instruction, and number of organized class sections taught, refer only to your institution's Fall 2006 semester workload file. Do not report data here for the full academic year.

COURSE:

An instructional activity, identified by academic discipline and number, in which students enroll, typically to earn academic credit applicable to a degree objective. Excludes "non-credit courses," but includes "zero credit course sections" which are requirements of or prerequisites to degree programs, and which are scheduled, and consume institutional or departmental resources in the same manner as "credit courses." Zero-credit course sections are typically supplements to the credit-bearing lecture portion of a course. Zero credit sections are frequently listed as laboratory, discussion, or recitation sections in conjunction with the credit bearing lecture portion of a course.

ORGANIZED CLASS COURSE:

A course which is provided principally by means of regularly scheduled classes meeting in classrooms or similar facilities at stated times.

INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION COURSE:

A course in which instruction is not conducted in regularly scheduled class meetings. Includes "readings" or "special topics" courses, "problems" or "research" courses, including dissertation/thesis research, and "individual lesson" courses (typically in music and fine arts). Individualized instructions are not assigned any section counts.

COURSE SECTION:

A unique group of students which meets with one or more instructors.

In reporting the number of sections taught at the respective levels of instruction, to the extent that your data base allows, please make certain not to double count dual listed (undergraduate and graduate sections of a single course meeting concurrently) and cross listed (a single course in which students from two or more disciplines may register under their respective department call letters) courses. In the instance of dual listed courses (a single course listed at both the undergraduate and graduate level) parse out the student credit hours based upon how the students were registered. Be sure to then count the associated section the same way as the student credit hours by apportioning the section into the appropriate levels. With cross listed courses (a single course listed with multiple departmental call letters) assign all student credit hours and number of sections to the department funding the instructor's salary.

COURSE CREDIT:

The academic credit value of a course; the value recorded for a student who successfully completes the course.

LOWER DIVISION INSTRUCTION:

Courses typically associated with the first and second year of college study.

UPPER DIVISION INSTRUCTION:

Courses typically associated with the third and fourth year of college study.

GRADUATE LEVEL INSTRUCTION:

Courses typically associated with post-baccalaureate study.

STUDENT CREDIT HOURS:

The credit value of a course (typically 3 or 4 credits) multiplied by the enrollment in the course.

Student credit hours should be aggregated and reported on the data form on the basis of course level of instruction and the classification of the faculty member. It is important to underscore that the criterion is level of course as opposed to level of the student registered in the course. For example, the student credit hours generated by a second semester senior taking an introductory graduate course would be reported in the "graduate" column. Similarly, those generated by a first semester graduate student taking an upper division level prerequisite undergraduate course would be reported in the "upper division" column. (If your institution assigns one credit unit instead of three or four credit hours to a course, convert the units to credit hours by multiplying by 3 or 4, as appropriate.)

If you cannot differentiate between "Organized Class" and "Individualized Instruction" student credit hours, assign all credit hours to the appropriate "Organized Class" column. Similarly, if you cannot differentiate between "Lower Division" and "Upper Division" undergraduate student credit hours, report all those credit hours under "Total Undergraduate Credit Hours."

In addition to aggregation by course level, student credit hours should also be aggregated and reported, based upon the classification of the instructors teaching the respective courses. Student credit hours should be reported for all courses taught by a faculty member who is budgeted to a given department, regardless of whether the course is taught in that department or elsewhere (i.e. using the "origin of instructor" reporting method). For example, a faculty member who is budgeted to the History Department, and whose teaching load includes two History courses and one Political Science course, should have all of the student credit hour generated from these courses credited to the History Department.

To the extent possible, deal with team teaching situations by prorating student credit hours to individual faculty in an appropriate fashion. If two faculty members are equally sharing instructional responsibilities for a 3 credit course with 30 students enrolled (90 student credit hours), 45 credit hours would be apportioned to Faculty A, and 45 credit hours to Faculty B. The same allocation would hold in appropriating the organized class section to the two faculty, i.e., 0.5 section to each. This is especially important where the faculty members in a team teaching situation are budgeted to different departments. The student credit hours should follow the faculty member. Use your institutional convention in making these proration decisions.

The same conventions apply to reporting counts of organized class sections. The first column asks for the number of lab/discussion/recitation sections taught by each type of faculty. The remainder of the grid looks at all other organized class sections, disaggregated by level of instruction and by faculty type.

Distance education courses should only be included when the student credit hours and course sections can be reported in the same discrete way that a typical non-distance education course would be reported.  In other words, we do not want the sections to be over inflated when there may be no unique time and place of the course offering.

PART B: COST AND PRODUCTIVITY INFORMATION

NOTE: : The data collected on this portion of the data form require financial information for a Fiscal Year 2006-07, and student credit hour data for the major terms in Academic Year 2006-07 that are supported by an academic department's basic operating budget. These major terms are generally Fall and Spring at institutions on a semester calendar, and Fall, Winter and Spring at institutions on a quarter calendar. You should use the same "origin of instructor" method of reporting for Part B as in Part A.

STUDENT CREDIT HOUR DATA:

You are asked to provide the total number of student credit hours taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, respectively, during the academic year. "Academic Year" refers only to those terms that are funded by the department's instructional budget. At most semester calendar institutions, this refers to the Fall and Spring terms; at quarter calendar institutions, Fall, Winter, and Spring terms are generally included. If instructional activity in a given term is funded by a source other than the departmental instructional budget (e.g., if the Summer term teaching is funded by the Special Sessions Office or Continuing Education, etc.), student credit hours associated with that term are to be excluded. Finally, remember to report student credit hour data by level of course as also required in Part A.

DIRECT EXPENDITURE DATA:

This study asks for total direct expenditure data in certain functional areas - instruction, research, and public service. Direct expenditure data reflect costs incurred for personnel compensation, supplies, and services used in the conduct of each of these functional areas. They include acquisition costs of capital assets such as equipment and library books to the extent that funds are budgeted for and used by operating departments for instruction, research, and public service. For purposes of this report, exclude centrally allocated computing costs and centrally supported computer labs, and graduate student tuition remission and fee waivers.

INSTRUCTION:

The instruction function, for purposes of this study, includes general academic instruction, occupational and vocational instruction, community education, preparatory and adult basic education, and remedial and tutorial instruction conducted by the teaching faculty for the institution's students. Departmental research and service which are not separately budgeted should be included under instruction. In other words, department research which is externally funded should be excluded from instructional expenditures, as should any departmental funds which were expended for the purpose of matching external research funds as part of a contractual or grant obligation. EXCLUDE expenditures for academic administration where the primary function is administration. For example, exclude deans, but include department chairs.)

You are asked to disaggregate total instructional expenditures for each discipline into three pieces of data:

1. Salaries: Report all wages paid to support the instructional function in a given department or program during the fiscal year. While these will largely be faculty salaries, be sure to include clerical (e.g., department secretary), professionals (e.g., lab technicians), Graduate student stipends (but not tuition waivers), and any other personnel who support the teaching function and whose salaries and wages are paid from the department's/program's instructional budget.

2. Benefits: Report expenditures for benefits associated with the personnel for whom salaries and wages were reported on the previous entry. If you cannot separate benefits from salaries, but benefits are included in the salary figure you have entered, indicate "Included in Salaries" in the data field. Some institutions book benefits centrally and do not disaggregate to the department level. If you can compute the appropriate benefit amount for the department/program, please do so and enter the data. If you cannot do so, leave the benefit amount as zero and we will impute a cost factor based upon the current benefit rate for your institution, as published in Academe. If no rate is available, we will use a default value of 28%.

3. Other Than Personnel Costs: This category includes non-personnel items such as travel, supplies and expense, non-capital equipment purchases, etc., that are typically part of a department or program's cost of doing business. Excluded from this category are items such as central computing costs, centrally allocated computing labs, graduate student tuition remission and fee waivers, etc.

RESEARCH:

This category includes all funds expended for activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes and commissioned by an agency either external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution. Report total research expenditures only. It is not necessary to disaggregate costs for this category.

PUBLIC SERVICE:

Report all funds separately budgeted specifically for public service and expended for activities established primarily to provide non-instructional services beneficial to groups external to the institution. Examples include cooperative extension and community outreach projects. Report total service expenditures only. It is not necessary to disaggregate costs for this category.

Respondents at institutions with interdisciplinary research and service "Centers" should make every attempt to disaggregate expenditures in those centers on a pro rata basis to component disciplines/departments. For those institutions with separate foundations for handling external research and service contracts and grants, funds processed by those foundations to departments/disciplines should be included.

Reminder: Due date for submission of data is JANUARY 31, 2008.

copyright© University of Delaware: 2007.