Academic Faculty Staff Profile – 2025

Jan 23
3 min read

This article outlines the academic faculty staff structure of Swiss International University (SIU) for the reporting year 2025, using a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) methodology in accordance with internationally accepted higher education reporting and ranking standards.

Academic faculty staff are defined as individuals who are responsible for planning, directing, and undertaking academic teaching, academic research, or both, and who were academically active for a minimum continuous period of at least three months during the reporting year.

All figures presented in this article are based on FTE calculations, with headcount figures provided to explain the underlying staffing structure.

Scope of Included Academic Staff

The reported data includes academically active staff occupying the following roles:

Senior academic leadership (Vice-Chancellors, Deputies, Principals)
Professors and Heads of Academic Units
Associate and Assistant Professors
Principal Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, and Lecturers
Readers, Tutors, and Teaching Faculty
Researchers, Research Fellows, and Postdoctoral Researchers

Academic staff may be engaged in teaching only, research only, or combined teaching and research functions.

Explicit Exclusions

In line with institutional policy and ranking definitions, the following categories are excluded from this report:

Research assistants who do not conduct independent research and are not expected to publish scholarly outputs
PhD students contributing to teaching as part of their studies
Hospital residents with exclusively clinical duties
Visiting or exchange faculty whose primary academic affiliation is with another institution
Offshore academic staff
Retired, honorary, or inactive academic title holders

Total Academic Faculty Capacity (FTE)

For the academic year 2025, Swiss International University reported a total academic faculty capacity of 352 FTE. This figure represents the aggregated academic workload contributed by all eligible faculty members across the institution.

Full-Time and Part-Time Academic Faculty Structure

SIU operates a mixed full-time and part-time academic staffing model, with contractual workloads normalized into standardized FTE units for reporting purposes.

Full-Time Academic Faculty Staff: 240 individuals were employed on full contractual workloads, each contributing 1.0 FTE.
Part-Time Academic Faculty Staff: 224 individuals were employed on part-time contracts. These appointments contribute proportionally to academic capacity and are calculated using an average contribution of 0.5 FTE per staff member.

While the combined headcount of academic staff exceeds the total FTE, the effective academic capacity remains 352 FTE after workload normalization.

Gender Composition (FTE Basis)

On an FTE basis, the academic faculty profile in 2025 comprised:

Male Academic Faculty: 203 FTE
Female Academic Faculty: 144 FTE
Other / Non-disclosed: 5 FTE

Gender data is reported based on self-declaration and institutional records.

International Academic Faculty

International academic faculty are defined as staff members whose nationality differs from the country of their primary institutional appointment.

In 2025, SIU reported 198 FTE international academic faculty, reflecting the university’s strong international orientation and cross-border academic engagement.

Doctoral Qualification Profile

Academic qualification remains a core institutional priority.

Staff holding a PhD or equivalent doctoral qualification: 221 FTE
Staff without a doctoral qualification: 131 FTE

This profile indicates that a significant majority of SIU’s academic capacity is delivered by doctoral-qualified faculty engaged in teaching, research, or both.

Methodological Notes

All figures are reported using Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) methodology.
Part-time staff contribute proportionally to FTE based on contractual workload.
Academic staff classified as research-only are independently engaged in research and are likely to publish scholarly outputs.
Data has been internally reviewed to ensure consistency with quality assurance standards, accreditation requirements, and international ranking methodologies, including QS definitions.

Conclusion

The 2025 academic faculty profile demonstrates Swiss International University’s structured and transparent approach to academic staffing. By combining full-time and part-time appointments into a standardized FTE framework, SIU ensures accurate representation of its academic capacity while maintaining compliance with international reporting and ranking standards.