The primary duty of  a teacher is to support students in all of  their activities related to academic, carrier and personality growth. At the same time he/she is responsible to increase his/her knowledge through research and other similar activities. Both of them are equally important. 

Thanks,

Rohith

Dear Barbara,

Thank you. Equally prioritizing is of importance. In my case, I teach about 10 hours a week besides writing publications, conducting my research and supervising postgrads. Its during the semester break, I take the chance to present papers at conferences and engage in consultancy work.

Regards

Thank you Rohith for your take on my question. Students' welfare is important  at the institution and your concern is deemed fair.

Dear Dr. Malini,

Your question is relevant because, some professors are too good in research but not good teachers. Basically he/she is getting salary to teach students. Research works are necessary, but it will no way affect his teaching hours.

I used to teach people to utilize a combination of sciences to solve some acute industrial problems. The challenge is to learn the stuff quickly, while preserving a deep level of understanding.

Having a practical need in applying scientific methods, people really get it studied in an accelerate manner - there is a will, there is a way. Perhaps, it is a good general approach for learning any stuff.

Absolutely. You have a point as it happens when we get carried away with other duties and neglect our core responsibility that's teaching. Thank you Rohith.

Thanks for sharing the question. Teaching, as my main duty, is my first priority and all the others follow. I agree one hundred per cent with dear Rohith who wrote ''Basically he/she is getting salary to teach students. Research works are necessary, but it will no way affect his teaching hours.''.

Regards

The priority areas are:

1. Teaching

2. Research

3. Consultancy

4. Institution/University administration

The role of the university professor from the academic and scientific point of view is essential as a university professor representing the leading thinker. On the other hand, since he is an intellectual vanguard, it is natural to be committed to a particular social thought. In the developed countries, the university professor plays an essential role for political institutions by expressing his opinion on all the issues dealt with by these institutions. As for the status of the university professor in the third world, it is more difficult than in developed societies, considering that the illiteracy rate in the third world countries is high and may reach 70%, in addition to the weakness of social awareness and thus the university professor as a pioneer of intellectuals is also a social vanguard. But third-world intellectuals note that they do not play the social role required of them. I think this is due to the separation between political leadership and intellectual leadership, and the reasons for this separation must be sought.

Who is responsible?

I think the responsibility is reciprocal. However, there is a dialectical relationship between what is political and what is intellectual, that is, there is interaction.

Research is my priority. Although I spend most of my time on the interests of students, I still have research as a priority. 

 Research is my interest.  I struggle to promote research activities in my campus. But  most of my time is allocated for teaching. My campus is teaching based campus.    Research has very little attention.  Current policy aims to promote research. Unfortunately,  only handful of faculties are  research active. I am personally active in research. But personal efforts are not sufficient,unless it is supported by institution. I would like to collaborate with interested faculties,do research and publish. Research grants are rare in my context.

Of course, if the case of the institution is an entirely research institution, that is, no teaching activities are included, research, logically, must be the first priority. 

I'm now a retired person, but I belonged to a research institute of a university in my later years of working. At the institute, we did education work for graduate students. Therefore, our education was mostly through our own research. Namely, we worked together with students in research projects and made them learn from our research processes. Thus, our priority as an educator was the research.

The conventional university system has dual responsibility: to disseminate knowledge to the students (teaching) and to generate new knowledge (research). In my view both need to be balanced and ideally a 'good' teacher should also be a 'good' researcher, although in actual life the two are not always correlated. However, if these activities go together, the teacher can promote the habit of enquiry in minds of students rather than simply providing information to be memorized by students. Unfortunately, the enquiry-promoting teaching is not happening in many cases with the result that the students are not really learning and thus do not become curious to know what they do not know. This finally affects research.

I have given equal emphasis to both the activities and I believe that each activity actually promotes the other. A teacher needs to be curious to know what is new and then share that knowledge with students. Likewise, a researchers also needs to know what is new and use that to formulate one's own questions and approaches. Thus a combination of the two makes a good mix. Teaching requires wider reading than research, and this is a great help since it provides a wider perspective to the researcher to place his/her questions and findings in a larger context. An additional advantage, especially in science, is that a good researcher would generally have a better equipped lab and this facilitates the students to get acquainted with newer technologies.

Current settings for promotions/reqards have placed too much emphasis on research. Furthermore, since the quality of teaching cannot be easily assessed, research activity becomes the primary target for assessment. This is not very good since under such research-biased environment, the university faculty does not take teaching seriously enough, which in fact should be as essential as research. Even the so-called 'research universities' need to have good teaching to generate the next generation of good researchers. 

Our university is a PUI, a liberal arts institution that is 99% undergraduates. In our department, we see our "product" as our students. Thus, teaching is the priority. All of our research is conducted with undergraduate collaborators emphasizing "teaching through research." We have a very rigorous senior thesis that every student must complete. The thesis process consists of collaborative summer research with field work, laboratory work, and data reduction and analysis. Students operate and calibrate all instrumentation and are involved in repairs. In the fall, they take a course that guides them through the writing of a senior thesis in manuscript form. They then present results at a regional or national professional conference. The whole purpose is mentoring the growth of a student into a professional. Research fellowships and travel are funded by the university. The result is students that are well prepared for employment or graduate school, which is our job. My worry is the increasing push to high-level research at the PUI level to the exclusion of this type of teaching. I see my job as preparing my students for their future. In the process, I manage to also contribute to the advancement of science, but that is really a by-product of teaching and mentoring.

Dear,

Thanks for sharing.

In the university where I work, in addition to preparing future professionals, we have the mission to teach ethical and competent people, inserted in the regional society and able to build knowledge, promote culture, exchange and aim to develop collective consciousness in the permanent search for Valuation and human solidarity.

Dear all, much has been said about your priorities. Appreciate all your contributions. Hope we are able to have a bit from each other in one way or the other. Our priorities do differ but our baseline is similar  and at most times our priorities are flexible in tandem with the demands of our institutions.

regards

Any challenges you experience or had experienced when undertaking your duties at your higher learning institution that you'll like to share ?

My approach is very simple.....

Thank you for sharing your simple and yet practical approach.

I would go with Subhash Sir Answer SInce as a Teacher your first priority has to be taching for that teaching you need to do regular research and consulting(practical impact ) and final is your duty towards your institute.

@Pratima Self reflection is necessary and this explains my question altogether.

No educators are set at a German university or college. They are university teachers. These have two tasks. Teaching and research. As the name suggests, the doctrine is supposed to be dominant. In addition to its high professional competences, a university lecturer is also supposed to be a model for the young people, for the students. The students to be emulate his role model.

Thus is the role model effect of a university teacher of great importance. This should be taken into account in an appointment of professors.

Happy Eastern

Michael Lersow

Very interesting variations among institutions. Since you asked about challenges, in my institution I had to accommodate the extreme beliefs of a department chair who refused to sign grade sheets with women students getting A's. Eventually he did, but he refused to admit women students in his classes. In the big country like Canada such extremists can hide and prosper.

On top of the priorities is to educate honestly just as if our God(Allah) watches me, This is my priority.

The study period should be a nice time. One of the most beautiful in life, perhaps. Many remain connected to their university of their whole life. Some will even become a university lecturer. And so it will be that one likes to remember some of their university teachers and some does it not. At these, at which you remember, they were based often not the most convenient.The basic principle at each university should be: "promote and demand". The study period is for many the basis of their further life.

Some also found at the university your great love and sometimes it was also the university lecturer.

Have a nice Easter time and all the best

Michael Lersow

"What is your priority as an educator at your institution?"

Educators should be examples of integrity, honesty, verticality, and competence, not “role models”. Historically several egocentric “Role models” gave bad results at a world scale.

In Portugal Professors have four areas of actuation: Teaching, Research, University extension to the exterior and University management. Currently my priorities are being teaching and research.

Hi António Manuel Abreu Freire Diogo,

if your behavoir is described by integrity, honesty, verticality, and competence, then you are automatecally a role model. Each parents are models for their children, thats the importenst thing in each upbringing all over the world, also in Portugal.

I agree with you what the behavoir`s properties and the best references of a university lecturer. But there should be big differences.

I agree with you of the ·areas of application of a university lecturer but for that he was not appointed, this develops later, in Portugal also.

It is important to recognize that public upbringing can not replace upbringing in the parental home. Both can complement each other well. At the universities the lecturers rather give support and guidance when studying than that they are educators. That is why they are rather good teachers, good trainers, good role models with characteristics.whatever, especially honesty, verticality, and competence! There large differences

If one goes to the university the most of upbringing realized

Wish you Happy Eastern

Regards

Michael Lersow

Hi Dr.-Ing. Michael Lersow, thanks very much for your sincere compliments. Personally, I prefer the culture of the individuality/independence/responsibility/respect instead of culture of uniformity, but I respect naturally other opinions.  I do not know exactly how it is the situation in Germany, but I believe that may be one of the best. I was speaking about Educators of Engineering in general and about University Professors in my country and particularly in my University, which is one of the oldest of Europe and where I teach since 1984, and I am Professor since 1997.

I wish you a Happy Easter too

Appreciate all your feedback which enriches our discussion. Thank you very much for your contribution and feedback on what's best and practical as your priority at your various institutions.

Happy Easter and Tamil New Year to all too.

Dear Antonio Manuel,

I will answering you in the evening. I be on Tour today. The difference between us is very small.

Scincerely yours

Michael

Dear all, Dear Antonio Manuel,

indeed, my opinion is that we need more positive role models not only at the universities and colleges. This expression maybe could a little bit to be misunderstood, since one toshould be define what is positive. Antonio Manuel has counted some properties which could be appears an university lecturer positive. My opinion is, these properties one get by the work of an university lecturer and not by declaration. Thus, could will be from the model a hero and this is of course not intended, right?

In Germany will be from 2006 the "best Professor" awarded. And in the laudation onen can find the following sentence: " Ich glaube doch, dass Persönlichkeiten für die geistige und materielle Entwicklung eine große Rolle spielen." - "I believe that personalities play an important role in intellectual and material development."

That`s also my opinion.

The students or young people should be could develop at the universities to personalities, which are outstanding by high professional competence, by social competence, as free, independent citizens, who also defend their opinion against resistances, if still comes to individuality, responsibility, respect, of history, culture and performance of one's own country, then it is almost the perfect person and there are few from that in our time.

Sincerely yours

Michael Lersow

Hello there,

The welfare and well-being of my students is and will remain my first and foremost priority. No further explanation required I guess.

Regards

Sudeep

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” ~ Thomas Carruthers

For me, it has always been engaging with students through various interactions. Of course, I do enjoy reading innovative measures of teaching as well. 

Thank you Vighna, for your take on my question. Innovation has proven to engage students' learning.