A major survey looking at academic work will be launched this fall by CAUT.

“Few aspects of academic life in Canada are more complex, or less well studied, than faculty workloads,” said James Turk, executive director of CAUT. “Relying as higher education does on public support and satisfaction, the data gathered from the survey will be an important component of our ongoing efforts to ensure the work of faculty is adequately understood, properly organized and suitably compensated.”

CAUT will select a stratified random sample of 10,000 academics to report on their work.

The responses received will be analyzed over the winter and spring by a work group headed by professor Paul Grayson of York University. The final report will be completed by the fall of 2008.

“We hope faculty members invited to participate in the survey will see the 30 minutes spent completing the questionnaire as a worthwhile contribution to Canada’s first full national portrait of faculty workload,” Turk said.

He said he hoped the study would assist member academic staff associations in bargaining as well as inform the public of the work faculty do.