75% of Saudi academics waste time for executive assignments

TAIF — Academics in the Kingdom spend 75 percent of their working hours completing administrative tasks. A source said Saudi teachers are supposed to work 35 hours a week while their non-Saudi counterparts are to log in 40 hours a week. “The academics are supposed to teach 10 hours a week and the rest of the work hours is to be used for research, academic counseling, office work and other responsibilities. Professors are to teach 10 hours a week, associate professors 12 hours and assistant professors 14 hours while lecturers are to spend 16 hours teaching,” said the source. The source also said most academics fulfill their teaching requirement but fail to commit to the office work. “Professors spend 25 hours, associate professors 23 hours, assistant professors 21 hours a week and lecturers 19 hours a week on administrative tasks outside their job descriptions,” said the source.