Visiting Professorship Programme

Definition

A visiting professor should be an academic who holds a position at the rank of Assistant, Associate or Full Professor in a recognized university, or who holds an equivalent position in another appropriate organization.

Assignment

The interested professors who wish to be TUMS Visiting Professors should either contact the relevant TUMS Department/Research Center or fill out the Visiting Professorship Online Application Form on the website of the Directorate of International Relations.

1. In the first case, the relevant Department/Research Center will forward the intended professor’s request to the Head of School/Research Center along with a recommendation letter for the intended professor. Head of School/Research Center will consider the request and in case of approval, they will forward the case to the Office of Global Strategies and International Affairs (GSIA). GSIA will consider the documents and recommendation letter written for the intended professor. In case of approval, the certificate of visiting professorship will be issued for the intended professor and simultaneously the intended professor and the Head of School/Research Center will be notified about the final decision. The intended certificate is valid for three years upon being issued (Flowchart).

2. If a professor wishes to be TUMS visiting professor and chooses to fill out the Visiting Professorship Online Application Form on the website, GSIA will receive the submitted application and will forward it to the Vice-Dean for International Affairs of the relevant School/Research Center. The Vice-Dean for International Affairs takes the responsibility to send the request to the relevant The Department/ Research center, to consider the request and in case of approval, notifies GSIA along with writing a recommendation letter for the intended professor. GSIA considers the request and in case of approval, the certificate of visiting professorship will be issued for the intended professor and simultaneously the intended professor and the Head of School/Research Center will be notified about the final decision. The intended certificate is valid for three years upon being issued (Flowchart).

Responsibilities

• Contributing to TUMS’ teaching by presenting guest lectures and training seminars

• Discussing the content and format of lectures and seminars with the Department/Research Center to ensure that all educational objectives are appropriate and achievable

• Meeting all timelines provided by the Department/ Research Center

• Engaging in formal or informal discussions with graduate or postgraduate research students

• Presenting the most recent published paper for students as a seminar during the intended visit

• Serving as an advisor to the Head of the Department/ Research Center and performing such functions as assisting in curriculum development and tailoring

• Discussing original research lines on matters of mutual interest with both the visiting faculty and home institution faculty members, leading to conducting researches and possible publications in professional journals

• Undertaking collaborative research with the relevant faculty members

• Taking part in the thesis defense session of the international postgraduate students as an external evaluator

• Submitting a final summary report of visit to the Head of the Department/ Research Center and GSIA, which should have an overview, including its strengths and areas for improvement. This report will not be published.

• Assisting TUMS to be publicized by encouraging Visiting Professorship Online Application Form and, as appropriate, establishing TUMS affiliated societies. This may include display, projection and distribution of TUMS materials and other actions.

Policies

• All involvement with the University should be agreed with the Head of the relevant School and GSIA.

• Visiting Professors will be required to abide by TUMS policies in as far as they are applicable, and in particular those relating to the Financial Regulations and Human Resources and Health and Safety policies.

• There will be a need to maintain confidentiality of information gained in the course of the relationship with TUMS wherever appropriate.

• Visiting Professors participating in University research projects or programmes will be required to report the creation of any Intellectual Property arising from those projects or programmes that may be commercially viable, to the Research and Innovation Services Division.

• Should there be a conflict of interests which overlaps with the relationship with the University, this must be disclosed initially to the Head of School/ Department/ Research Center.

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Responsibilities of TUMS Members

When a visiting professor is at TUMS to have academic activities, such as giving lectures, running workshops, meeting officials and discussing the latest research topics in a specific field of study, each TUMS faculty member has certain responsibilities to the incoming visiting professors; these responsibilities include:

• Each faculty member is required to assign a talented student in the related area to accompany the visiting professor during his visits to various places in the university

• Each faculty member is required to provide the visiting professor with the opportunity to give lectures, manage the administrative staff to inform students and call the right audience and etc.

• Each faculty member is required to spend time with the visiting professor to discuss possible grounds of collaborations, and introduce the visiting professor to other faculty members to build the connection of the visiting professors to other TUMS faculty members

• All Vice-Deans for International Affairs should observe the whole process of the Visiting Professorship Programme, be actively involved and try to facilitate the process.