How much time do faculty members spend actually teaching? That somewhat touchy subject has been the topic of a great deal of analysis, and it’s not over yet.

In June, the Pope Center released a paper by Jay Schalin measuring the teaching loads of faculty in the University of North Carolina system. His report was based on a sample of departments at four UNC campuses, Appalachian State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro, and UNC-Asheville.

Schalin’s findings, while preliminary, indicated that faculty spend considerably less time teaching than UNC estimates claim. He estimated they teach between 2.07 and 2.72 courses per semester, compared with the official estimate from the University of North Carolina system, which is 3.37 courses per professor per semester.

As indicated in the table, Schalin used two different methods to estimate the number of courses taught per semester. Method 1 counted each course, regardless of the number of students enrolled. Method 2, a more stringent measurement, counted only courses with at least 3 students enrolled.

Recently, economist Andrew Gillen looked at national data and came up with similar findings for the nation’s universities as a whole — that is, teaching loads are not very high. In addition, they have declined significantly over the years.

Historical data from the National Postsecondary Faculty Survey showed that teaching loads fell between 1988 and 2004, and they fell at every type of institution, including community colleges. For example, at research universities in 1988, the teaching load was 2.75 courses per professor per semester, on average. That figure fell to 1.6 in 2004. At liberal arts colleges, the loads went from 3.7 in 1988 to 2.5 in 2004.

Gillen believes that faculty are giving up teaching time to have more time for research.

The decline may be more severe than Gillen’s figures indicate. Changing definitions in the faculty survey from year to year make it difficult to quantify the problem and may explain the unusual pattern of the data. (Teaching loads decreased every year except 1999). In some years, the data include both “for-credit” and “non-credit” courses in the estimate, whereas in other years only “for-credit” courses are counted. Other changes, too, make comparisons difficult.

The data reveal that loads are slightly higher at public universities than at private ones. However, course loads are declining across both public and private universities.

The issue is not going to go away, partly because the University of North Carolina relies on what is called the “Delaware study” methodology in calculating class load. It includes a broader range of activities (such as laboratories and recitations as classes) than does the Pope Center study.

In any case, as faculty teach fewer courses, more of them are needed to handle the students who are enrolled. Wrote economist Richard Vedder, in his 2004 book Going Broke by Degree, “Very significant savings in instructional costs are possible from increasing teaching loads.”

Jenna Ashley Robinson is outreach coordinator for the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy (popecenter.org).