Measuring Faculty Productivity - A Conceptual Review

Abstract

Faculty members engage themselves in key activities of instruction, research, administration, consulting and community service. Increasing the rate of production in any one of these activities may be at the cost of other activities. Perceptions of what constitutes faculty productivity may differ based on approaches adopted and the contextual factors. There are no universally accepted variables to measure faculty productivity, since each university or institute is unique in type of programmes offered, quality of in-coming students, placement rates, mission and vision, and research intensity. Though certain inputs are measurable, it is observed that “the outcomes are diffuse and difficult to measure” 1 . This Paper reviews the published literature and makes an attempt to segregate the components of faculty productivity in institutes offering higher education. Further, attempt is made to quantify faculty productivity, students learning outcomes and how to incorporate faculty productivity in the institutional mission.