UPEIFA Members Prioritizing Support For Research

Expanding Research Capacity is Key to UPEI’s Future Success

For UPEI to deliver on its strategic priority of Scholarship, Research, and Discovery, the University must invest in its researchers. In this round of bargaining, the UPEI Faculty Association has asked the UPEI Board of Governors to agree to a number of proposals that are designed to support your research projects and our collective research capacity.

While UPEI’s student population continues to grow, the number of faculty members has remained stagnant in recent years, leading to significantly increased demands on individual professors to take on much more teaching and service loads. This increase in teaching responsibility has made it more difficult for faculty to focus on research, an equally important component of a faculty member’s workload.

This is why the UPEI Faculty Association is proposing that the University.  

Proposals include:

 Establish a minimum ratio of full-time faculty to allow the University to maintain educational quality while also providing key support for researchers. Provide guaranteed teaching backfill for all research-related course releases, and recognize extraordinary levels of unscheduled teaching – primarily in the form of student supervision – with additional course releases. Invest adequately in research-related infrastructure – particularly dedicated research space – and report on how grant-based infrastructure funds are being utilized on an annual basis. Secure course releases for FA Members who have been awarded Tri-Agency funding. Recognize FA Members’ sole and exclusive intellectual property rights.

The UPEI Faculty Association is dedicated to greater accountability, greater transparency, and greater support for UPEI academic staff.

 

Investing in the expansion of research capacity is an investment in UPEI’s students, UPEI’s academic staff, UPEI’s national and international reputation as a research institution, and in UPEI’s ability to play an important role in the success of PEI as a whole. By bringing proposals to support research to the table, together we are Bargaining For A Better UPEI