Rajesh Butta

What are the main work and responsibilities of a Professor?

I am confused and i am looking for help to sort this out


by Rajesh Butta
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3 answers

RE: What are the main work and responsibilities of a Professor?

Deepak Rana
Deepak Rana
Verified Career Expert
Author: Sky Beyond the Clouds
  • Kangra

Below is the list of the main work and responsibilities of a Professor:


1. Professors have to deliver the lectures every day. In some cases, periodically. It may seem like an hour or so for one lecture but a lot of effort goes behind the scenes. They need to do the whole research on the topic that they are presenting in the classroom. They have to keep in mind what kind of questions that students can ask and how to explain the concepts in the easiest possible way - all these things they often practice.

2. Professors need to work on their research. Most of the times they are either involved in a research paper or some project in order to showcase their innovation and what sort of research they have conducted in their own field. Therefore they often spend time reading, learning and experimenting with the various tools and processes in order to bring the innovation in their work and contribute in the best way possible.

3. They often attend seminars and other educational events where they educate themselves and also share their knowledge with others. This is also an opportunity for them to meet other people who are working in the same areas of interest and therefore they can build their network in such events. They also make sure that they meet diverse set of people.

4. Professors have to do a number of academic activities that involves maintaining the records, keeping a check on the students' progress and also to set the examination papers. These all activities consume a lot of time for them and are often tedious works for them. But they have to do it on regular basis and maintain the right information so that they can use it later. They are also often given additional roles in the university to take care of.

Therefore the role of professors is extremely vibrant and involves great deal of dedication and commitment in order to provide a valuable contribution in the field of education.

RE: What are the main work and responsibilities of a Professor?

Vivek Kumar
Vivek Kumar
Verified Career Expert
Counselor / Subject Matter Expert in Microbiology
  • Meerut

Hello friend,

The professor is the senior faculty member in a college or a university. The professor is a doctoral degree holder, having many years of experience of teaching, research, student guidance, administration and other related work.



The basic and fundamental work responsibility of a professor is teaching. The professor usually teaches graduates, post graduates and doctoral degree students. He has to deliver lectures on the subject of his specialization. He prepares notes, and also uses multimedia to explain the things easily, minutely and in detail so that the student can easily grab the things. He also answer the queries of students regarding some topic.



Other then teaching the professor is also busy in conducting research. The research part of his job is done by his research scholars and students. The post graduate and doctoral degree students conducts research in supervision of a professor. He also monitor some research projects funded by the funding agencies. In these research projects he inducts some senior research fellow or junior research fellow, whose work is supervised by the professor.



Professors





The output of the students research work and research projects are published in the form of research papers in peer reviewed journals. He also prepare and submit the report of his research projects to the funding agency on regular basis. He also monitor the financial part of his research projects. Besides these work he is also busy in writing review articles, book chapters and books related to his or her subject.



The professor also attends or organize the international or national conferences, workshops, symposium and training programs. These workshops and symposium provides the opportunity to make good research collaboration with the person of his interest. The participation and organization of these conferences by a professor is important for his promotion.



Besides these regular activities the professor is also busy in interacting with colleagues, senior and some times with clients also. He has to attend meetings on various departmental matters. he could be member of exam committee or quality control support of the department, or he may be looking after the departmental library or looking after students placements.



The senior professor are appointed as Head of the department, Dean of the college or institute or Director of University. Here the professor is involved mainly in administrative jobs but he also finds time to guide his research students and his research projects.

RE: What are the main work and responsibilities of a Professor?

Dr Aparna
Dr Aparna
Verified Career Expert
PhD Organizational Psychology
  • Hosur

Professors have enormous and a variety of roles these days than only teaching. In the previous decade a professor only dealt with teaching and student record maintenance. But in the recent times professors have a lot more to do and I shall explain them in detail on here.


1. Regular lecturing:
As mentioned, in the past almost every professoring dealt only with tutoring their students in class. And this practice has been still there even now. So a professor they will conduct regular teaching probably for 3-6 hours a day.

2. Conduct research:
Apart from the regular teaching, a professor needs to engage with research activities be it any subject. The professor needs to create protocols for their research and work either alone or in groups that may constitute their colleagues or some research students from the school.

3. Student record maintenance:
The professor also needs to maintain a database that contains records of students attendance, marks through the semesters, their achievements and notes on extra curricular activities. Maintaining records in hard copies was there long time back but in the recent times it has been replaced by maintaining through computers in soft copies format. Well established professors with more than 10 years of work experience are made free from maintaining such records as the administration team takes over such work relieving the professor from these admin work load, to enable him/her concentrate only his/ her academic duties.

4. Supervise/ guide PhD students:
A professor does need to recruit PhD candidates in their area of research and has to guide them for a minimum of 3-5 years until the candidate completes their PhD. They will have to guide the candidate right from the research proposal, plan, direction of research, obtaining funding, publishing research papers to submitting their PhD thesis. Supervising PhD candidates have become an integral part of a professor's career.

5. Work with the industry sector:
The prof also needs to work with industries in his subject. If there is a professor in management, they will have to work with managemnet divisions of corporate companies. They need to often work as an external advisor or consultant to look into the practical problems the companies face.

6. Establish private research centre or lab:
Professors have the power to establish a research centre or lab at the university site to engage in their academic research. they need to create proposals, obtain funding and make use of the funding for their research development at the uni site.

7. Organize research events:
Professors also have the role in organizing national and international academic events like the seminars, workshops, conference and symposium. This is a networking place where they could present their papers to a large audience.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
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RE: What are the main work and responsibilities of a Professor?

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Caching Date: 1/3/2025 12:11:48 PM