INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
To: All academic staff
Deans of Faculties/Heads of Departments
Dear Colleagues,
Forum on the Implementation of Lecturer Titles
for Non-Professoriate Teaching Staff
I write to invite you to a forum on the implementation of Lecturer titles for non-professoriate teaching staff, and to hear your views on the proposed arrangements, before they are submitted to the Senate for further deliberation.
2. Colleagues may recall that under the HRM reform in 2004, it was recommended that non-professoriate teaching staff such as Teaching Consultants and Language Instructors etc. be accorded the Lecturer III/II/I titles with membership rights of the Board of Faculty and the Board of Examiners. The implementation has been put on hold pending the amendment of the University Ordinance.
3. I am pleased to let you know that the University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Bill was published in the Gazette, and that the implementation proposals have been considered and supported by the Faculty Deans, the Senior Management Team and discussed at the Human Resource Policy Committee. An overview of the proposed arrangements is as follows:-
a) The "Lecturer", "Senior Lecturer" and "Principal Lecturer" titles will be adopted, instead of the previously proposed Lecturer III/II/I titles, respectively for Language Instructor (inclusive of Field Instructor)/Teaching Consultant, Senior Language Instructor, and Teaching Fellow/Senior Teaching Consultant;
b) A new title/grade of "Assistant Lecturer" will be established for providing a better career progression for junior non-professoriate teaching staff like demonstrators or tutors; while Assistant Language Instructors, Instructors in Nursing, and Clinical Instructors (Speech and Hearing Sciences) will be retitled as Assistant Lecturer with no change in their salary structures;
c) Membership rights of the Board of Faculty and the Board of Examiners of "Lecturer", "Senior Lecturer" and "Principal Lecturer" will be granted, subject to revisions of the relevant regulations, where applicable;
d) Eligibility for the Non-accountable Cash Allowance (NCA) for non-professoriate teaching staff will be changed from salary- to position-linked, same as professoriate and non-academic Staff. For serving appointees, their current NCA provision and their NCA eligibility for the current grade will be grandfathered (unless the contract states otherwise). For future promotion, however, the new NCA provision will apply;
e) A one-off irrevocable option will be given to existing staff to be mapped laterally to the new title/grade. Upon re-appointment or promotion, the new titles and grades, where applicable, will apply.
4. Colleagues are cordially invited to attend the forum and share your views on the proposed implementation arrangements. Details of the forum are as follows:
Date: January 28, 2013 (Monday)
Time: 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m.
Venue: Room 726, Knowles Building
To facilitate logistical arrangements, please register your attendance through the HKU Event Management System:
http://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/hkuevent.aspx
5. I look forward to your participation and support on the implementation of the Lecturer titles for non-professoriate teaching staff.
Professor Roland Chin
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
Chair of Computer Science
January 14, 2013