Full Economic Costing (fEC)Time Allocation Exercise (TAS) guidance notes

Above activities carried out in relation to:

• All students on award bearing courses (for convenience this should include self funded, sponsored and overseas students on UK courses - an adjustment will subsequently be made to transfer the cost of these students to Non Publicly funded teaching)
• All teaching activities like European Social Fund (ESF), Erasmus and Tempus
• All levels of teaching i.e. sub-degree, degree, taught post graduate
• Short courses commissioned by PF sponsors (for example, local authority) should be allocated to Publicly Funded Teaching (PFT) where material

Above activities carried out in relation to:

• Full cost short courses
• Non credit/award bearing courses
• Overseas courses
• Other commercial teaching

Advancement of knowledge and skills related to teaching.

• Timetabling
• Examination boards
• Preparing prospectuses
• Interviewing students; admissions and inductions
• Course and other committees related to teaching
• Schools liaison
• Pastoral support (outside timetabled tutorials); counselling
• Course development; module reviews
• Writing books and other publications for teaching purposes
• Secondment to / academic exchanges with other universities for teaching activities
• Publicity for teaching facilities and opportunities

The Transparency Review requires that institution-funded research must be separately identified.  Please note that work which has any external sponsorship, even if it does not cover the cost of your time, must be included under the relevant research sponsor category.

In order to assist academics in allocating activities to the appropriate category this has been split into two categories:

B1.a Supporting teaching

This would include research whose primary purpose is to support teaching.  Examples would include the development of new communication tools, the assessment of the effectiveness of teaching and the introduction of enhanced student experiences leading to improved academic performance.

B1.b Supporting research

This includes research work (which may or may not be on specific research projects) that is not carried out to the specific direction of an external sponsor. It could include speculative research undertaken to investigate the potential of ideas before preparing grant or contract bids; or for publication. This should not include any research carried out to support Teaching. The research should be expected to lead to some research output. This is different from Scholarship which is activity that updates or maintains the knowledge of an individual; or adds to their skills and experience but where the knowledge base already exists elsewhere. There is a separate category for Scholarship - supporting Research - see separate note re Scholarship vs Research.

The revised guidance stipulates that the time spent by academics training and supervising postgraduate research students must be established separately from the total time academics spend on research projects.

Therefore time spent on the training and supervision of PGR students must now be separately identified. This time should be entered as PGR supervision regardless of whether it takes place as part of a funded research grant or contract. This activity would include training in research methodology, review of drafts and preparation of thesis and external examining.

Time spent on activities outlined in B above should be entered under the relevant research sponsor type. Questions 8 to 16 of the TAS relate to project activities which have been externally funded and for which a research project account code will have been allocated. Research that has not been externally funded should not be recorded in this section but should instead be included under Question 5 or 6 as appropriate (or Question 7 if relating to time spent on PGR supervision).

Advancement of knowledge and skills related to research (see separate note re Scholarship vs Research)

• Drafting and re-drafting proposals for new work and supporting bids to external bodies
• Refereeing papers
• Unpaid work advising government departments or committees, professional bodies or agencies in relation to research matters
• Institute and department committee work supporting research
• Block time in other institutions on research exchange schemes
• Publicity for research facilities and opportunities
• Dissemination or publication work after a grant has ended

Activities other than teaching, research or support. For example -

• Work carried out through trading units/commercial companies
• Outreach (where the outreach activity is not teaching or research)
• Other services rendered, including testing and clinical trials (i.e. activities not covered under the Frascati definition of research (see Research section))

Negotiating contract terms and conditions with external bodies

• Private consultancy work carried out in University time, with the agreement of the University (note: Private consultancy carried out in private time should not be included in this return)
• Maintenance and advancement of own personal knowledge and skills (reading literature, attending professional conferences, maintaining professional skills, acquiring new skills etc) not specifically related to Teaching or Research
• See separate categories for Scholarship specifically related to Teaching or Research and separate note re Scholarship vs Research

• Management and administration including membership of/participation at faculty boards, senate, institution committees etc.
• Management duties such as Deans, Assistant Deans etc.
• Staff management; appraisal
• Publicity: representative work on behalf of the University or department
• Careers advice
• Information returns
• Quality assurance
• Contribution to sector for example (unpaid) committees, secondments to RAE panels
• All other tasks not attributable to other categories