Duty work

Duty work is all kinds of non-research related tasks that a doctoral candidate is doing for the university. The time spent on duty work is credited as a fully paid extension to your employment contract. Duty work could consist of teaching duties, supervising students, administrative tasks, or representation in councils and committees.

Scholarships limited to three years do not include duty work. Scholarships for four years will normally include one year of duty work. However, if you have a three-year scholarship you might be offered teaching assignments. You are not required to accept this, but it might be a good idea to accept to develop your skills, especially for teaching experience which may prove valuable later. NTNU must pay you for teaching, either with additional salary or by extending your employment.

DION advises that you have an open line of communication with the department administration about your duty work. In particular this is important if you end up doing administrative work or is selected as a representative in committees at the university, department or faculty-level. Such work may count as duty work (or may make you eligible for an extension), but it is generally easier to come to an agreement about such matters before the work is started.

NTNUs rules for duty work can be found here. (In Norwegian only.)

Some important points to note from the regulations:

  • Duty work should be relevant to your education.
  • Administrative duties should be limited to 10 % of the total workload each year.
  • Updated plans for future duty work and status of performed duty work should be delivered each year.
  • The reported duty work should reflect the real working hours. Lectures containing new original material (produced by you) should be rewarded by 50 % more time.
  • It is the employer’s responsibility that you do not perform more duty work than planned and that it does not hinder your academic progression.
  • During your last year, duty work should ideally not account for more than 10 % of your time.

 

In spring 2016 DION released its report on duty work policies at NTNU. Read the PDF here.