University Lecturer
What the work is
Lectures students and conducts tutorials in one or more subjects within a prescribed course of study at a university, and conducts research in a particular field of knowledge.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Prepares and delivers lectures
- Prepares and marks essays, assignments and examinations
- Advises students on academic and related matters
- Attends departmental and faculty meetings, conferences and seminars
- Supervises work programs of postgraduate and honours students and tutorial staff
- Participates in setting course and degree requirements, curriculum revision and academic planning
- Serves on council, senate, faculty and other committees and professional boards
- Conducts research and undertakes consultancies in a particular field of knowledge
- Compiles bibliographies of specialised materials for reading assignments
- May conduct tutorials, seminars and laboratory sessions
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a university campus: a lecture theatre, a tutorial room, a shared office and a research lab. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A first year student who was ready to drop out asks you for a reading list instead
- A lecture goes well and the questions at the end are better than your notes
- A paper you worked on for years is finally accepted and you share it with your students
Hard days
- Marking a large pile of assignments with a deadline for results and a research paper due as well
- A student pleads for an extension and you cannot tell what is true
- Committee meetings that eat the hours you planned to spend on research
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 252131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.