The following draft policy statement was presented to the Senate by Vice-President, Academic & Provost Barry McBride for information and discussion at its meeting of 22 January 2003. It is important to note that it was not presented for approval or adoption by the Senate.
Purpose
- To continue the mandatory retirement age at 65 years.
- To continue special purpose contracts with academic staff for one-year term positions.
- To enable UBC to benefit from the continuing contributions of our highest achieving faculty who are beyond the mandatory retirement age 65.
Policy
- Mandatory Retirement: Except as may be explicitly set forth in this Policy, the mandatory retirement age is 65 years.
- Special-Purpose Post-Retirement Appointments: Where there is an immediate and specific need and it is in the best interests of the University to reappoint a retiring or retired faculty member to meet that need, a special-purpose post-retirement appointment may be made for a term of up to one year at a time.
- Post-Retirement Employment Contracts:
- A limited number of exceptional faculty who have received the highest acclaim from the academic community and who continue to distinguish themselves as scholars will be eligible for consideration for post-retirement employment contracts.
- Post-retirement employment contracts will only be made if it can be demonstrated that the benefits to the Faculty outweigh the advantages of making a new faculty appointment.
- Post-retirement employees will not be tenured.
- Post-retirement employees will be expected to teach and maintain a strong scholarly program.
- Post-retirement employment contracts require the approval of the Provost.
- Post-retirement employment contracts are not a right or a reward and will be approved only if they are in the best interests of the University.
- Review: This policy will be reviewed in 3 years.
Procedures
- Mandatory Retirement:
- A full-time faculty member whose 65th birthday falls between January 1 and June 30 inclusive will continue in his or her rank and salary with applicable benefits until June 30. A faculty member whose 65th birthday falls between July 1 and December 31 inclusive will continue in his or her rank and salary with applicable benefits until December 31.
- A sessional lecturer or other part-time faculty member who reaches his or her 65th birthday during the term of his or her appointment may continue in service until the expiry date of the appointment.
- Special-Purpose Post-Retirement Appointments:
- There will be no requirement to grant any appointment beyond age 65.
- There must be an immediate and specific need within the unit concerned and the special-purpose post-retirement appointment must address this need.
- A special-purpose post-retirement appointment must not be in place of renewing the department through the appointment of tenured or tenure track faculty members.
- Special-purpose post-retirement appointments are to be made primarily for teaching/collection development duties, and occasionally for service on committees.
- Remuneration should be commensurate with the services performed (e.g. depending on the circumstances, teaching could be on a pro bono basis, or involve a salary ranging from very modest to the scale amount for lecturers).
- The title used by a special-purpose post-retirement appointee should reflect the status of the appointee immediately prior to retirement (e.g. Professor Emeritus).
- No payment will be made for occasional honorific or voluntary duties (e.g. chairing doctoral oral examinations, supervising graduate students).
- Special-purpose post-retirement appointments are to be recommended by the head of the unit concerned to the dean/librarian to the Vice-President, Academic & Provost for approval. Agreement-in-principle should be sought by the head before any assurances are given to possible appointees.
- Post-Retirement Employment Contracts:
- Post-retirement employment contracts may be concluded between UBC and a member of faculty to start no earlier than age 65 and end no later than age 70. The first contract will be for up to three years, with the understanding that it could be renewed for up to an additional 2 years. All contracts will be reviewed yearly and may be terminated with the appropriate notice.
- The nature and evaluation of the duties must form part of the agreement. Duties will include both teaching and research.
- A post-retirement employment contract may be signed no earlier than two years before it is due to commence.
- Compensation will be determined when the contract is negotiated.
- In making a decision on a post-retirement employment contract the Provost will consider the recommendation of the Department, the Head and the Dean.
- The decision will be based on evidence of outstanding success in teaching and in research. Where appropriate there must be evidence of ongoing financial support for research.
- Post-retirement employment contracts may be full or part-time, but must include a teaching component.
This information is for quick reference. For the full text of the Minutes of Senate, which include the motions and discussion, please see the Minutes Archive.