A degree college balances permanent lecturers, guest faculty and a lean office. Here is how to hire, load, record and keep teaching and non-teaching staff while the academic year, exams and inspections set the pace.
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Share your requirementsA degree college offers undergraduate programmes in arts, science, commerce, computer applications or management, usually affiliated to a university. The team includes principal, heads of departments, permanent lecturers, guest and part-time faculty, librarians, lab assistants, a college office, accounts staff, attenders and security. Teaching follows semester timetables and exam schedules set by the university, and staff are called for valuation, invigilation and admissions. Guest faculty fill gaps and are paid per lecture. Records of qualifications, workload and service are checked at inspections. See also HR for education. HR in a degree college is about fair workload, honest guest faculty terms, steady non-teaching staff and records ready for any inspection.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles in degree colleges. For each role we agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. Tell us the role and the number of people, and we start there.
We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.
Every business interviews, but few have a written process that works the same way for every role and every interviewer. GullyHR designs yours, from the role brief to the offer, trains your managers to run it, and can run it for you on the roles you hand us.
We agree what the role must deliver, the must-have and nice-to-have skills, and how each will be scored.
Screening call, assessment, interview rounds and decision points, sized to the role and the number of people you hire.
Structured questions for each role family and a rating guide, so two interviewers judge the same answer the same way.
A short briefing for your managers on what to ask, what to avoid and how to give a clear yes or no.
Who approves, how the offer is made, and how candidates are kept informed from first call to joining.
Some lecturers carry heavy timetables and exam duty while others carry little, and complaints grow quietly.
Many classes depend on lecturers paid per lecture, with no benefits and uncertain renewal.
Qualification papers, appointment letters and workload sheets live in different offices and are collected in a rush before a visit.
Invigilation, valuation and result work fall on the same people while classes continue.
Office and lab staff carry steady work with little recognition and little training.
Lecturers are asked to publish or attend programmes, with no time or budget given.
A few weeks of counter work, form checking and fee queues strain a small team.
A complaint about a lecturer is handled in the corridor, without a record or fair hearing.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Employee Administration; Policies, Compliance and Governance; Employee Relations. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for education, not in general.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a degree colleges business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
A sheet of teaching hours, exam duty and extra tasks for each lecturer, reviewed each term by the head.
A sheet of teaching hours, exam duty and extra tasks for each lecturer, reviewed each term by the head. The attendance, shift and leave process fits.
Rate per lecture, notice, payment dates and renewal rules, confirmed with a qualified professional and held in HR documentation.
Rate per lecture, notice, payment dates and renewal rules, confirmed with a qualified professional and held in HR documentation.
Qualification papers, appointment, workload and training in one place, using employee information management.
Qualification papers, appointment, workload and training in one place, using employee information management.
A rota that spreads invigilation and valuation, with notice and substitutes.
A rota that spreads invigilation and valuation, with notice and substitutes.
Short training on records, counter service and software, set in the learning and development process.
Short training on records, counter service and software, set in the learning and development process.
A simple written route with a named listener and a reply date, using the grievance and disciplinary process.
A simple written route with a named listener and a reply date, using the grievance and disciplinary process.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
One complete file per staff member, ready for inspection.
Appointment letters and guest faculty terms in clear written form.
Workload and duty rosters that are visible and fair.
A recorded route for student and staff complaints.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in education, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Faculty, administrative and support staff leave for different reasons. How to ask what shaped their decision and act on it within the academic calendar.
7 min readRead article
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead article
How an India head can sort a global parent's HR policies into apply, adapt or replace, write an India addendum with advisers, and keep headquarters on side.
7 min readRead article
An employee brings you a complaint about their supervisor. What happens next should not depend on who is in the room. A grievance procedure a small company can actually run.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Count teaching, exam duty, mentoring and administrative tasks in one sheet, review it each term and adjust. Openness reduces quiet resentment.
Give a written rate, notice, payment dates and the basis for renewal. Pay on time and recognise strong teaching.
Qualification proofs, appointment and service details, workload, training and appraisal notes. Confirm exactly what is needed with a qualified professional.
Use a rota with notice, rotate roles and arrange substitutes. Keep a record of who did what.
Offer short training, widen their tasks over time and recognise accurate, timely work.
Take them in writing or note them, hear the lecturer fairly, reply within a stated time and file the outcome.
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