The regular teaching load for academic-promotion-track assistant, associate, and full professors in the following faculties is four courses/sections per academic year:
– Faculty of Business Administration
– Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences
– Faculty of Engineering
– Faculty of Law
– Faculty of Science
– Faculty of Humanities and Letters
– Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
The regular teaching load for academic-promotion-track assistant, associate, and full professors in the following faculties is six courses/sections per academic year:
– Faculty of Education
– Faculty of Applied Sciences
Teaching loads for academic-promotion-track assistant, associate, and full professors in the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts are determined by the faculty dean on an hourly basis.
Beginning in the 2027-28 academic year, newly appointed academic-promotion-track assistant and associate professors in the Faculty of Business Administration, the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Science are granted a reduced teaching load of three courses/sections per academic year for five consecutive academic years. Promotion from assistant professor to associate professor begins a new five-year period of reduced teaching load. Each five-year period begins at the start of the academic year (1 September) following the appointment or promotion; the teaching load already assigned for the ongoing academic year remains unchanged. Sabbatical leave and unpaid leave of absence do not extend the period of reduced teaching load.
Department chairs are responsible for distributing the three courses/sections across the Fall and Spring semesters, with two in one semester and one in the other. Teaching all three courses/sections in one semester and none in the other is not permitted. For faculty members on sabbatical or other leave for less than a year, the Provost determines the number of courses/sections to be taught in that academic year.
For faculty members appointed or promoted before this policy takes effect, eligibility is limited to the remaining portion of the five-year period calculated on the same basis.
Teaching-load provisions in individual offer letters take precedence over this policy. Visiting faculty members may be granted teaching-load reductions on a case-by-case basis, subject to approval by both the Provost and the Rector.
Faculty members receiving teaching-load reductions for administrative duties are not eligible for additional teaching-load relief under this policy.
Associate professors in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, the Faculty of Humanities and Letters, the Faculty of Business Administration, the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Science who have completed ten years at the rank of associate professor at Bilkent University will have a teaching load of six courses/sections per academic year, beginning in the following academic year and continuing for as long as they remain at that rank. Sabbatical leave and unpaid leave of absence count toward the ten-year period. Associate professors in these faculties who, by the end of the 2026-27 academic year, have completed nine or more years at that rank at Bilkent University will be exempt from the increased teaching-load requirement for the 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 academic years.
The University reserves the right to amend these policies or make individual exceptions in unforeseen or exceptional cases.