Health sciences flush with professors

NEWLYRELEASED figures from the University of Otago show its health sciences division is leading the way in terms of seniorlevel academics, with six times as many professors as the division of commerce.

However, latest student numbers per division show the division has just over twice as many students.

The total number of health sciences professors has reached 136 and there are 129 associate professors.

Forty new professors and 17 associate professors across the university were announ ced on Thursday, promotions taking effect on February 1 next year.

The division with the lowest number of toplevel academics is commerce, with 23 professors and 18 associate professors.

A breakdown of student numbers per division from 2018 is not yet available, but statistics for 2017 showed 6267 equivalent fulltime students (EFTS) enrolled in health sciences, compared to 2885 in the division of commerce.

There were 4712 students enrolled in humanities in 2017, and 4334 enrolled in sciences.

The division of humanities now has 58 professors and 49 associate professors and the division of sciences has 60 professors and 53 associate professors.

In November, the predicted final roll for this year was 18,583 EFTS, although a total and a breakdown of students per division has not been announced yet.

In the last five years, a total of 101 professors have been added, along with another 180 associate professors.

Between 14 and 19 new academics were added each year in the last five years.

Throughout the university, there are 280 full professors and 252 associate professors.