School of Mathematical Sciences

This policy has been developed by the School of Mathematical Sciences to govern tutorial work done by postgraduate research students in the School. The policy was informed by feedback from current tutors (Semester One, 2005-06) in the School and takes account of the work and remuneration conditions of other postgraduate research students within DCU and in other mathematics departments around the country. The policy is presented in three sections: underlying principles, terms and conditions and guidelines governing the distribution of tutorial work among tutors and day-to-day issues

Principles for Tutorial Work by Postgraduate Research Students

• All postgraduate research students must undertake tutorial work which the School sees as a central part of their training.
• All postgraduate research students should undertake the same number of tutorials.
• Payment arrangements should be the same for all tutors.
• The policy must be such that, insofar as is possible, it guarantees that enough tutor-hours are available for the full tutorial timetable.
• The policy should be effectively communicated to all tutors.
• The Tutorial Director will prepare a separate Guidelines document covering such issues as distribution of modules, remission of hours for 3rd, 4th year research students etc.

Terms and conditions

• All fulltime postgraduate research students registered in the School must undertake 4 hours tutorials per week each semester.
• Payment will be in the form of a stipend of EUR 2,000 per annum for this work. This will be paid in 8 monthly instalments from October to May inclusive of each academic year. The School's research scholarship includes this payment.
• Tutors may be offered additional hours if the need arises, for which they will be paid the DCU hourly tutor rate.
• By arrangement with the manager of the Maths Learning Centre (MLC), hours allocated to a given student for work during term in the MLC may be transferred to work in the MLC during the exam revision periods.
• All postgraduate research students undertaking tutorial work for the first time in DCU must attend the tutor training workshop held at the beginning of the academic year.
• Absences should be notified in advance to the lecturer of the course of the relevant tutorial or to the School secretary.
• Failure on the part of a postgraduate research student to satisfactorily complete tutorial work (through ongoing non-attendance or other circumstances) will result in the withholding of payment and referral of the student to the Head of School and their research supervisor (or School research convenor).

Guidelines

• For each tutor, the number of different courses being tutored and the number of days on which classes are to be given is to be kept as low as possible.
• Insofar as it is possible, the tutorial workload allocation will be a perturbation of that for the corresponding semester from the previous academic year. The purpose of this will be to
• • simplify the preparation of the document, and
  • ensure that tutors have by and large the same classes as previous years.
• MFM tutors take year one tutorials only. Except for classes involving computer lab work, no such restriction is applied to any research student in respect of any course; it is assumed that every postgraduate research student can tutor every course. Where a tutor encounters a particular difficulty with an assignment, they should contact the Tutorial Director (see below).
• Where the tutorial timetable allows it, remission of hours will be applied in the first instance to postgraduate research students in 4th and 3rd year, in that order.
• Additional weighting is given only to unsocial Maths Learning Centre hours (6-7pm).
• Comments on the timetable, including requests for changes, are explicitly invited and requests will always be considered.
• Lecturers are asked to meet tutors' requests for lecture notes, exercise sheets and solutions to exercise sheets and to provide this material in a timely fashion. Problems obtaining such material should be communicated to the Tutorial Director or Head of School.