Sessional lecturers are faculty members hired to teach courses on a per-semester basis, and to perform related duties such as course coordination or laboratory supervision. In exception circumstances, they may also perform light administrative service. Sessional lecturers usually hold the terminal degree in their discipline or very close to completion. There is no distinction in the Collective Agreement between graduate students who hold sessional appointments and non-graduate students.
Sessional lecturer appointments fall into two main types: (1) 50% and over, and (2) less than 50%. The percentage, known as FTE, describes how close an appointment is to the designated full-time load in a given Faculty. FTE is calculated on a per-semester basis.
Course-loads of 50%+ FTE give sessional lecturers access to a different range of benefits than course-loads falling under 50% FTE. Sessionals may also hold appointments in more than one department, unit, or even institution at a time; the accumulated total course-load at UBC determines whether a sessional is over or under a 50% appointment.
Full-Time Load Standard: By Faculty
Key Procedures and Processes
Getting Hired
Available sessional positions at UBC must be posted electronically for at least 2 weeks by the associated program, unit, or department. Anyone may apply; however, existing sessionals have certain priority rights.
Departments must provide existing sessionals with a description of the hiring procedures, including the steps involved in making emergency appointments. The process must also be posted (physically or electronically) in the Department.
Appointments generally begin the first day of term in September, January, May, or July and end after the last day of exams.
An official Letter of Appointment from the UBC President’s Office may take time to arrive but it should specify your salary (see the minimum salary scale) and accumulated number of credits taught.
Teaching Assignments/Course Priority
Part 7: Conditions of Appointment for Sessional Lecturers specifies how assignments are made, with qualifications, experience, and performance being the three factors which must be weighed. When all these are equal, length of service is considered.
Teaching at UBC is distributed according to a priority system. Tenured and tenure-track faculty receive their assignments first, followed by Lecturers. The Head then assigns courses to Continuing Sessional Lecturers to meet their individual entitlements (see below). Any remaining courses are placed in either the Sessional Pool or the External Pool.
Externals are any members of the teaching staff outside the FA bargaining unit, including Seconded Teachers, Adjuncts, and Post-Doctoral Fellows.
Non-continuing sessionals have the right to reappointment (ROR) to 1 course per academic year. The Head distributes the courses in the Sessional Pool such that each non-continuing sessional is assigned at least their minimum entitlement. If there are no courses available for which a sessional is qualified and available to teach, they may not be renewed.
Any courses remaining after the initial allocation of ROR courses is made are assigned either to existing sessionals or to new applicants.
Reappointment
A sessional can expect to be reappointed subject to:
- teaching performance;
- experience
- qualifications;
- funding;
- availability of courses or sections; and
- length of service (relative to other candidates when all other performance criteria are equal).
Emergency Postings
Existing sessionals with less than full-time loads have the right to first consideration for additional work that becomes available after the initial appointments, subject to qualifications. All existing sessionals must be informed of available positions.
Continuing Status
Continuing Status (CS) entitles a sessional to priority in course assignment and a higher teaching load based on the number of credits they taught in the winter terms prior to achieveing CS. Course assignments are still subject to the availability of suitable courses and performance expectations.
Continuing Status is achieved when a sessional accumulates 81 or 108 credits of work, depending on the Faculty, within a six-year period.
In calculating length of service, all UBC teaching (including evening and summer courses) should be counted, not only that achieved in any one department or faculty. Sessionals who think they have or will soon achieve “continuing status,” should inquire with Faculty Relations or, at our Okanagan Campus, contact Human Resources.
Credits for Continuing Status: By Faculty
A Continuing Appointment also entitles a sessional to additional benefits, such as higher professional development funds and the right to be assigned courses at the same time and in the same process as their tenure and tenure-track colleagues.
Continuing sessionals whose appointments are not renewed due to cancellation or lack of funding are entitled to severance pay or recall rights – the choice belongs entirely to the sessional.
Sessional lecturers who have further questions about appointments can contact the Faculty Association.
You can find additional helpful information in our Contract Faculty Handbook.
