TOAST The Original Academic Staff Time survey January 2009
Introduction Government requirement for universities to demonstrate a transparent approach to costing Requires an understanding of full cost of teaching, research and ‘other’ activities Main cost of these activities is staff Data was collected in (TOAST) survey in All universities required to resurvey to confirm costs every 3 years TOAST 2009
Who will be involved Academic staff in all departments/ divisions –Professors –Lecturers –Senior lecturers –Readers Academic champions communicate the importance of the survey to colleagues
Involvement of surveyed staff Each academic to complete 3 diary returns for 3 non-adjacent weeks Weeks randomly selected - could be term-time or vacation All weeks are during 2009 calendar year In each survey week, asked to account for activities by 30 minute slots in a 24 hr diary Balance between detail, time, effort and usefulness Using same survey tool as in
How you will complete the survey Receive an informing that your survey week is about to start Access an on-line diary – using College login and password Record activities for each day, Monday to Sunday, selecting activities for each 30min slot from five main categories: –Teaching –Research –Professional activities –Management and administration –Non-professional activities Within each category, select a specific activity from a drop-down list E.g. Teaching – taught postgraduate or Research – UK charities
How the process is supported Targeted to advise you shortly before the start of each of your survey weeks On-line guidance on how to use the software FAQs and instructions on how to allocate your time to the listed activities address for queries: URL for further information:
How the College will use the information We, as all universities, report to HEFCE the costs of teaching, research and other activities, split into public and non-public funds Your returns are anonymous Will not be used for performance management Will be used to inform our costs under fEC and therefore support our cost recovery But only if Government accepts data as statistically robust A full response rate is vital (as near to 100% as possible) It is critical that all academics participate
Thank you Your questions, please