Research

Faculty in Higher Education Survey Methodology, 2024-25

 

CUPA-HR has been collecting data on higher ed faculty since 1982. The data collection period for CUPA-HR’s Faculty in Higher Education Survey ran from November 4, 2024, to January 16, 2025. The survey was conducted through Surveys Online.[1]

INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS SURVEYED

The instructional programs surveyed are based on the 2020 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP).[2] The CIP taxonomy is a hierarchy organized on three levels:

  • 2-digit codes (XX) define the most general groupings of related disciplines.
  • 4-digit codes (XX.XX) define subdisciplines that have comparable content and objectives.
  • 6-digit codes (XX.XXXX) define specific specialties within disciplines.

For example:

42) PSYCHOLOGY. Instructional programs that focus on the scientific study of the behavior of individuals, independently or collectively, and the physical and environmental bases of mental, emotional, and neurological activity.

42.27) Research and Experimental Psychology. Instructional content for this group of programs is defined in codes 42.2701-42.2799.

42.2701) Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics. A program that focuses on the scientific study of the mechanisms and processes of learning and thinking, and associated information encoding, decoding, processing and transmitting systems. Includes instruction in theories of cognition and intelligence; studies of cognitive processes such as memory, sensation, perception, pattern recognition, problem solving, and conceptual thinking; cybernetics; psycholinguistics; and the study of biological and social communications mechanisms and processes.

DATA COLLECTED

Full-Time Faculty and Department Heads

This year’s survey includes data for 275,564 full-time faculty, including 169,791 tenure-track (TT) faculty; 98,429 non-tenure teaching (NTT) faculty; and 7,344 non-tenure research (NTR) faculty. Among full-time faculty reported, 9,005 were identified as department heads. This year’s survey also collected data for 46,719 adjunct (AD) faculty. For each type of faculty member, the following data were collected:

  • All Faculty
    • Tenure type (TT, NTT, NTR, or AD)
    • Highest degree attained [doctorate (Ph.D., M.D., J.D., or equivalent), master’s, bachelor’s, associate’s]
    • H-1B status
    • State of residence
    • Sex (optional)
    • Race/ethnicity (optional)
    • Birth year (optional)
  • Tenure-Track Faculty Only
    • Annualized 9-10-month salary (effective date November 1, 2024)
    • Rank (professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and new assistant professor)
    • Year entered current rank (optional)
    • Whether the faculty member is a department head (if checked, additional data on salary supplements, summer salary, and course relief were collected)
  • Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Only
    • Annualized 9-10-month salary (effective date November 1, 2024)
    • Year entered current position
    • Whether the faculty member is a department head (if checked, additional data on salary supplements, summer salary, and course relief were collected)
  • Non-Tenure-Track Research Faculty Only
    • Annualized 9-10-month salary (effective date November 1, 2024)
    • Year entered current position
    • Whether the faculty member is a department head (if checked, additional data on salary supplements, summer salary, and course relief were collected)
  • Adjunct Faculty Only
    • Pay per credit hour
    • Number of credit hours (not number of courses) being taught on November 1, 2024.

Participants uploaded a file containing this data.

Institutional Basics

Basic data on institutional characteristics were collected from all participants:

  • Total expenses reported to IPEDS in 2023-24
  • Student enrollment (effective date approximately October 15, 2024)
  • Faculty size (effective date November 1, 2024) and number of separations in the past year
  • Staff size (effective date November 1, 2024) and number of separations in the past year
  • Human resources staff size and number of separations in the past year
  • CHRO reporting relationship
  • Whether collective bargaining exists for the following groups:
    • Full-time faculty
    • Part-time or adjunct faculty
    • Full-time staff
    • Graduate students

Basic information on total expenses as well as student, faculty, and staff size were required questions. All other questions were optional.

RESPONDENTS

Respondents were largely human resources and provost office professionals from higher education institutions in the U.S. There were 793 institutions that completed the survey.[4]

CITATION INFORMATION

CUPA-HR. (2025). Faculty in Higher Education Survey, 2024-25 [Data set].

 

1 The total number of adjunct faculty reported is a low estimate, given that the question on number of adjunct faculty is optional.

2 See the Faculty Survey Participation and Information Template for a complete list of all instructional programs surveyed, instructions to participants, and more information on how data were collected.

IPEDS 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Codes (2019). National Center for Education Statistics.

3 The total number of adjunct faculty reported is a low estimate, given that the question on number of adjunct faculty is optional.

4 Special focus institutions include medical institutions, law institutions, art design schools, tribal colleges, and others. Institutions not classified include international institutions, higher ed affiliates, and any other institution not listed with a basic Carnegie classification. Higher ed affiliates include research foundations, research laboratories, preparatory academies, and other institutions that CUPA-HR has deemed to have similar enough workforces to higher ed institutions that they may participate in CUPA-HR surveys and benchmark their positions using CUPA-HR data. For-profit institutions, higher ed affiliates, and non-classified institutions are generally not included in overall analyses of CUPA-HR data unless otherwise specified.