Chapter 2: Science and Engineering Indicators 93
Undergraduate Instruction by Type of Faculty
National concern over the quality of undergraduate education in science, mathematics, and engineering, and the relative priorities assigned to research and
teaching, has been widely noted and discussed. (Click here for footnote 8.) The specific issue is whether professors have advanced their field of specialization through research while entrusting their teaching
duties to other faculty. Initial data that can shed some light on this issue are currently available for three fields--physics, geology, and sociology. (Click here for footnote 9.) Full-time faculty in these
disciplines account for 79 percent or more of the instructional contact hours with undergraduates; teaching assistants have 12 percent or less of instructional contact hours. The balance of instruction was provided by part-time and adjunct faculty.
Text table 2-4 shows the percentage of instruction by full-time faculty in these fields across all institutions.
When instructional hours are examined by institution type, it can be seen that undergraduates at research-intensive universities (research I and II) receive a much larger percentage of their instruction from teaching assistants. (See figure 2-7 and appendix table 2-7.)
Teaching assistantships (TAs) account for about 21 percent of the primary support of S&E graduate students (SRS 1993a). (See appendix table 2-32.) In 1991, about 65,000 graduate students--mostly concentrated in research universities and doctoral-granting institutions--received such assistantships. (Click here for footnote 10.) Teaching assistants provide over 36 percent of undergraduate instructional contact hours in physics at research universities, but only 3 percent at comprehensive universities or liberal
arts colleges.
Footnote 8:
See for example, Sigma Xi (1989) and Brown (1992).
Footnote 9:
A comprehensive national survey of university faculty will be completed by 1995 to provide data on faculty characteristics and time spent in research and teaching by specific field. Currently available data are from the National Science Foundation's
Higher Education Surveys, which gather national information on undergraduate curricula from 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. The three fields for which surveys have been completed as of this writing are geology, physics, and sociology (SRS 1992d, 1992e, and 1992f). Departments in these fields specified the hours of undergraduate instruction provided by professors and teaching assistants for lectures, laboratory work, and discussion groups.
Footnote 10:
An estimated 26,000 of these teaching assistants are foreign graduate students; See "Support for S& E Graduate Students."
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