I wonder if professors in Canada have to work at the University over the summer months (when students are at home).
So if they decide to not teach summer courses, are they free to divide their time over the summer for travel/research/writing articles? Can they go wherever they want over the summer?
(btw I read that they do have a lot to do over the summer like publishing articles and so on, but can they do it whenever/wherever they want?)
Depending on the university, professors may be paid only for the months they teach (typically called a 9-month contract) or their salary may be paid out over 12 months (the same amount of money with less in each paycheck). The job description of a college professor typically includes not only teaching and research but also service on college committees and sometimes local, regional or national professional groups. In general, summer teaching counts as an “extra” commitment and would be paid separately. Most professors I know spend their summers planning courses for the following year, catching up on writing and research, attending the occasional conference, and taking some time off to recharge and enjoy vacation for a couple of weeks. I don’t know about Canada, but in the US, this is the norm.
Do you have a specific concern or is it a general question?
No just general question because I heard people in Canada and North America in general only get 2 weeks vacation by law per year and that’s really not much! I wonder how or if they have time for travel. So I just wondered if professors get more.
There are no North American laws.
People in the United States are required zero paid time off. There is no mandatory vacation time.
If professors aren’t teaching and don’t have other on-campus obligations, no they aren’t generally required to be on campus. I don’t think any of the professors I know are in their office more than a few days a week in the summer unless they’re working on finishing some writing. Most use the summer for research.
We don’t get summers “off”, unless for you taking mandatory unpaid leave over the summer a case of getting the time off. And most of us do a fair amount of work over the summer anyway, despite the lack of pay. It’s a bit of a racket on the part of the colleges out there, really.
Oftentimes professors may also take sabbaticals which are periods of paid leave granted to a college teacher for study or travel, traditionally every seventh year. This can be as long as a semester or a year
While the term “sabbatical” does indeed refer to a seven year cycle, in today’s economy it is very rare for a prof to get time off every 7th year, or even every 14th. It’s a highly competitive process for limited resources at most institutions, and a professor would be lucky to earn one or two sabbatical leaves in a lifetime of teaching. Alas. ;(
What stradmom says. These fabled sabbatical are becoming, in fact, a bit fabled…
Also, a sabbatical wouldn’t have anything to do with summers. Professors who get a sabbatical would take one during the fall and/or spring.
OP, many of your full-time professors are going to be evaluated primarily on the basis of their research, not their teaching. Professors in the first 6 years or so of working are on what’s called the tenure-track- they’re working towards getting a permanent position at the college at which they teach. Professors who already have tenure are still usually promoted on the basis of their research. And at some schools, professors are on what’s called “soft money,” which means that the majority of their salary is actually paid through government grants that they must apply for rather than a salary directly from the university. (It’s usually a percentage - like at one school your salary might be paid 60% through government grants and only 40% through your teaching.)
Because of these factors, a lot of professors spend their summers catching up on research. They may write a grant, write a couple of journal articles to push out, travel for research, and do other tasks related to trying to meet the research requirements of their university. Generally speaking they do have the freedom to do this wherever they want during the summer, although practically speaking that requires money and a spouse/partner who is also free to travel that way.
Adjunct professors (professors who teach part-time, usually a class here or there) may spend their summers doing the same thing in an effort to try to get a more permanent/full-time position. Or they may teach more classes to make ends meet.
And many professors run research subjects/ labs all summer, advise graduate students working on the research. If they are traveling, many of them are traveling to do research and maintain contact with alumni internationally, which helps with funding (donations) and job placement for newly minted grads. Say they are Thai history professors, they probably spend their summers in Thailand digging through archives and the like. Others spend time writing grants to fund research and pay grad students, or working to consolidate stuff they did all winter that they need to catch up on. For example, there’s loads of administrative stuff to do if they happen to run a Center or Program. Professors that I know at a high-level institution work more hours than you could imagine, like about 80-100 per week. Oh yeah and they’re also supposed to be writing papers and books! And peer reviewing the papers, grants and books of others. And to be spokespeople for the news and other media to promote the institutions. It’s a huge job.