Years of Experience - Faculty of Health Sciences

June 7, 2002

Faculty of Health Sciences
Experience Prior to Queen's University Appointment
Non-University Work Experience
These guidelines provide a framework for the equitable evaluation and calculation of relevant years of non-university work experience granted to members of the academic staff of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the time of appointment to Queen's University and during their years of service at Queen's University. They are used to:

Assist the Dean in establishing equitable starting salaries.
Facilitate a comparison of remuneration for faculty members that will maintain pay equity between men and women and maintain an equitable application of career development and merit among members in related disciplines.

Degrees of Relevance

Non-university experience should be assessed on its degree of relevance to an individual's academic responsibilities. Relevant experience is only that which has contributed to a faculty member's expertise in university-level teaching and/or research.

There are four (4) degrees of relevance:

Direct Relevance: counts one year for one year
Reasonable Relevance: counts for 0.5 year for one year
Limited Relevance: counts for 0.25 year for one year
No Relevance: no experience will be credited

For the Faculty of Health Sciences: Guidelines for the application of the degrees of relevance are:

Direct Relevance: years of full-time, post-doctoral research at a research institution or, equivalent experience in government, industry or equivalent institution
Reasonable Relevance: years of related clinical work in a health care institution (up to a maximum of 10 years of clinical experience is eligible for consideration), related work done in government or industry, work done as a lecturer or research fellow. The non-university experience must demonstrate a significant contribution to a faculty member's expertise in university-level teaching or research.
Limited Relevance: years of related clinical work in a health care institution (up to a maximum of 10 years of clinical experience is eligible for consideration), related work done in government or industry, work done as a lecturer or research fellow. The non-university experience must demonstrate a moderate contribution to a faculty member's expertise in university-level teaching or research.
No Relevance: Work done in an unrelated discipline or where the work completed is not of sufficient duration or contribution level.

Level of Education

Calculation of years of experience prior to a regular academic appointment should be assessed on the degree of relevance of the work to an individual's academic responsibilities. The level of education held at the time of work experience, in and of itself, cannot determine the degree of relevance. Normally, the only work that counts is work judged to be equivalent to the duties performed by regular faculty members in the individual's discipline.

With respect to disciplines where an advanced degree is not required for an academic appointment, the Faculty may discount a specified number of years of relevant work in order not to disadvantage those who do hold advanced degrees in the same discipline.

For individuals whose last degree is not a Ph.D.:

A completed Ph.D. is assumed to require, on average, four (4) years beyond a master's degree and six (6) years beyond a bachelor's degree. Therefore for individuals who hold a masters degree but not a Ph.D., 4 years of relevant work shall be discounted. In cases where, time spent in a program of graduate studies extends beyond the averages noted above, this additional time is not counted toward years of relevant experience. However, in cases where work experience and graduate program registration are carried out simultaneously, usually through part-time involvement in each activity, then the work experience will be assessed and prorated in accordance with the Faculty's guidelines for relevance.

Within the Nursing discipline, the Director may factor in the historical norms in assessment of the individual's level of education and work experience. Consideration may be given to clinical work experience upon graduation from a diploma program as limited relevance (up to a maximum of 10 years of clinical experience is eligible for consideration) in accordance with the Faculty's guidelines for relevance provided a PhD or equivalency is subsequently attained.