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Annual Tenure Reviews – Process Overview

The tenure track process consists of a time period of five years with the first year being a probationary year. Goals and objectives will be set by the Head of School and agreed with the Assistant Professor each year.

In years 1 and 2 annual reviews to assess the level of performance and to set future objectives will be carried out by the Head of School. In year 3 the review will be undertaken by a School Review Panel and in year 4 by the Junior Academic Progression Panel. The benchmarks will be pro-rated in relation to any leave taken, consistent with good practice.

Year 1 – Probation period

Probation process is covered under Probationary and Review Procedures for Academic Staff and it is outlined at our website for academic probation.

• Twelve-month probation for the fixed term contract is put in place.
• Goals/objectives are set by the Head of School (in conjunction with a Discipline expert where necessary) and agreed with the Assistant Professor within the first month of taking up the post.
• The Head of School meets with the Assistant Professor to review performance after the first and second terms. The Head of School will provide feedback to the Assistant Professor and will highlight any areas where improvement is needed (if applicable).
• After nine months, the formal probation report is completed and the Head of School carries out a formal final probation review. (For details on the probation process please see our website Probation for Academic Staff).
• If probation is passed, the Assistant Professor progresses to year two of their five year contract. If they do not successfully pass probation, they leave the University no later than twelve months from their start date.

Year 2 – Review by the Head of School



• Goals/objectives are set by the Head of School (in conjunction with a Discipline expert where necessary) and agreed with the Assistant Professor at the beginning of year two.
• Performance is reviewed during and at the end of the year by the Head of School. The Head of School will provide feedback to the Assistant Professor and will highlight any areas where improvement is needed (if applicable).

Year 3 – School Review Panel



• Goals/objectives are set by the Head of School (in conjunction with a Discipline expert where necessary) and agreed with the Assistant Professor at the beginning of year three.
• Not later than their last term in year three, the Assistant Professor will complete a Year 3 Tenure Review Form and submit it to the Head of School for review by the School Review Panel.
• Performance is reviewed at the end of the year by the School Review Panel. Following the review, the Head of School will provide feedback to the Assistant Professor and will highlight any areas where improvement is needed (if applicable).

Year 4 – Final Tenure Review by Junior Academic Progressions Committee



All candidates eligible for tenure will be interviewed by the Junior Academic Progression Committee in the last term of year four of their contracts.

• Goals/objectives are set by the Head of School (in conjunction with a Discipline expert where necessary) and agreed with the Assistant Professor at the beginning of year four.
• In the last term of year four of their contract, the Assistant Professor will complete an application for submission to the Junior Academic Progression Committee.
• Reports from one External Assessor will be sought (the external assessor is to be nominated by the Head of School and approved by the Faculty Dean).
• The Junior Academic Progression Committee will interview the Assistant Professor and review their performance in the final term of year 4 of their contract.

RSS Performance Review Form

Completion of the RSS Performance Review Form may be a lengthy process, so we advise that any Assistant Professor starts working on their application as soon as possible. They should be able to access the RSS from early days of their appointment, and their work on keeping their RSS profile up to date will reduce the amount of time spent on converting their already populated details into their tenure review form.

The form covers following sections:

1. General Information – details relationg to the applicant
2. Sumary of Achievements – self-assessment on meeting Criteria for Tenure Track Assessment
3. Curriculum Vitae – career to date, qualifications, degrees etc.
4. Research and Scholarship – Top 5 research works, citation, list of publications and grants, etc.
5. Teaching – teaching philosophy, teaching commitments in the past years, number of students supervised, etc.
6. Service to College – roles held in TCD, philantropic activities, etc.
7. Service to Discipline & Engagement with Society – organising conferences, external roles, outreach activities, etc.

 

The steps to complete the academic probation application form are as follows:

RSS Profile	Fill in and keep it up-to-date. IT Services and Dean of Research have instructions, training and support materials assisting with updating the RSS Profile	The RSS: http://rss.tcd.ie Dean of Research website
MyRSS MyApplication Wizard	Go through all the sections of the Wizard to make sure that all information populates correctly from your RSS Profile Some sections need to be completed manually, so make sure that you filled in all fields that are required. After updating the form in MyRSS Wizard, generate the word document and check if all information populated correctly. You can edit the word document, so if you need to add or amend anything you can do it in Word rather than go back to the RSS	MyRSS CV Wizard MyRSS User Guide
Summary of Achievements	Under Section 2. Summary of Achievements, please also include a self-assessment against meeting Criteria for Tenure Track Assessment	Criteria for Tenure Track Assessment