Over 3,000 members of staff at the tertiary level
There were 3,048 staff members working 2,339 full-time equivalent jobs in schools at the tertiary level in November 2008, including overtime work. These figures include all staff members, both instructional personnel and others. Never before have so many worked in schools at the tertiary level in Iceland. The number of staff has increased by 100 since the previous school year (3.4%) but by 58 from the school year 2006-2007 (1.9%). In November 2008 there were 2,039 teachers employed at the tertiary level working 1,334 full-time equivalent jobs.
More university teachers are over the age of fifty
The largest age group among instructional personnel is 40-49 years of age, or 608 teachers holding 383 full-time equivalent jobs. Second in place are instructors who are 50-59 years of age; they are 584. In November 2004 10.2% of instructors at the tertiary level were 29 years or younger. Four years later they are 8.0% of the teaching staff and their proportion has decreased by 2.2 percentage points. Instructors in the age group 40-49 were 31.2% of the teaching staff in November 2004 but in November 2008 they are 29.8%, which is a decrease of 1.4 percentage points. On the other hand the number of instructors in the two oldest age groups, i.e. 50-59 and 60 years old and older has been increasing since November 2004; by 2.4 and 2.1 percentage points respectively.
Part-time instructors are more than one-half of university teachers
More than one-half (56.9%) of all instructors at the tertiary level are employed as part-time instructors, many on a temporary basis. This group of instructors works 525 out of 1,334 full-time equivalents jobs, or 39.4%. Professors, assistant professors and lecturers each account for between 11 and 14% of instructional personnel. Professors work 20.0% of full-time equivalent jobs in teaching, assistant professors 15.6% and lecturers 18.9% of all full-time equivalent teaching jobs. In total, the full-time equivalents of these groups of instructors account for 93.9% of full-time equivalents in teaching while 6.1% of full-time equivalents are taught by various professionals and by managers.
If instructors at the tertiary level are classified by occupation and sex it is apparent that the greatest discrepancy between the sexes is among professors; 76.2% are male and 23.8% female. The gap is narrowest among lecturers, where males are 50.9%. Women are 55.7% and men 44.3% of part-time instructors and adjuncts.
About the data
Data on personnel in schools at the tertiary level come from the schools and the State Accounting Office. These data include all personnel who were employed by universities and other schools at the tertiary level in November 2008. The data on instructional personnel include everyone who had some instructional duties in November 2008. Instructors who were on leave when the data were collected are not included in the data on instructional personnel. However, they are counted among all staff members if they received salary during the reference period. Education refers to the highest level of education attained.