Faculty vs. Staff

There are many people involved in the development of an educational institution like schools, colleges, or universities, as they help and support to make the department successful by educating the students. These people may be an academic or non-academic workforce. However, Faculty represents the academic staff of an organization, whereas staff represents the non-academic or administrative staff of an organization.

The main difference between staff and Faculty is the number of members. A faculty is a group of people, particularly teachers, professors and lecturers who impact knowledge. Moreover, the staff is defined as a group of people who work for administrative functions in an institute such as secretarial, sales, or executive.

Faculty is referred to as academic staff, which is hired for learning development by teaching and providing information to the students. The term faculty was introduced in the United States and Canada, but later it was adopted by almost all countries.

The term staff can be defined as the entire group of workforce who work in an organization, or it can be defined as the workers that are hired in an education institute to deal with non-teaching jobs within an organization.

Comparison Chart

Basis Faculty Staff
Definition The teaching workers of an education institute are called the Faculty The non-teaching workers of an education institute are called staff.
Tasks To teach and educate the students The staff deal with the non-teaching  jobs
Members The members of Faculty consists of professionals like teachers, instructors, lecturers, professors, etc The staff includes the administrative sector of a company which includes officers, managers, secretary, accountants, clerks, etc
Salary The salaries are based on their educational rank. The salaries of the staff are based on the designation or position in the company.
Working Hours Their working hours are not fixed as the teaching schedule may vary due to morning and evening shifts. They have specified working hours
Educational requirements Depends upon the criteria or standards set by an institute It depends on the designation.

What is Faculty?

The term faculty may be used interchangeably for schools and colleges or can be defined as “the entire teaching force of school, colleges, and universities.” It includes all teaching staff and administrative members such as teachers, instructors, lecturers, assistant professors, deans, or principals.

The main aim of faculty staff is to educate and provide knowledge to the students and learners of an institute, as they are qualified teachers, professors, or lecturers who are specialized in different subjects.

However, Faculty may also a group of the department within an academy that is devoted to one subject area such as, a university has various faculties like Faculty of commerce, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Education and Faculty of law.

In North America, the word faculty is generally used for the academic staff of the universities, but not all staff of a university is known as Faculty. Those workers who are involved in the support task are known as non-academic staff.

 What is Staff?

Staff can be defined as the officers responsible for the internal operations of an institution. The members of staff include the management department or the cleaning team. Such as staff of a hospital include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, management officials as well as support staff, another example of a restaurant staff, which provides for managers, chefs, cooks, dishwashers, servers, etc.

The term staff has a broad meaning as it represents the employees of an organization who perform regular functions. Staff can be divided into two groups, academic staff and general staff. The academic staff is also known as Faculty, which is responsible for educational tasks, whereas the general staff is the workforce who is hired for administration purposes.

Staff is used to represent the members of a specific business or an organization. According to the functional divisions of an organization, it can be sub-divided, such as executive staff, accounts staff, or psychotherapy staff, etc.

Key Differences between Faculty and Staff

  1. Faculty refers to the academic workers of an organization, whereas staff refers to the entire group of workers employed by an organization.
  2. Working hours of the Faculty are irregular because of their teaching schedule, while working hours for staff members are fixed.
  3. Faculty is responsible for teaching functions of an organization; on the other hand, the staff is responsible for administrative as well as support functions.
  4. The members of Faculty include professors of different ranks like associate professors, assistant professors, teachers, lecturers, etc. whereas the members of staff include dean, president, secretaries, clerks, registrar, etc.
  5. The qualification requirements for faculty members depend upon the criteria and standards set by the institution, whereas the educational requirement for staff members depends on his designation.
  6. The salary of faculty members relates to their rank of an educational institution, whereas the wages of staff members depends on their position or level in the organization.

Conclusion

However, both Faculty and staff are entirely different terms. Faculty represent the workforce who are hired for educational tasks, whereas the staff is the workforce who are hired for administrative tasks. Faculty includes professors, teachers, scholars, lecturers, researchers, on the other hand, the staff consists of executives, administrative staff, counseling staff, dean, registrars, clerks, etc. Moreover, the scope of staff is quite broader than the Faculty.

1 thought on “Faculty vs. Staff”

  1. The Blog is very helpful to understand Faculty Vs Staff. Every organization, educational society, school, college firm, or govt. office needs faculty or staff, both are necessary and they play an important role.

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