The analysis of faculty time allocation indicated that undergraduate teaching remained the primary focus of postsecondary instructional faculty and staff. In fall 1998, instructional faculty and staff across all types of institutions devoted nearly one-half of their work time (48 percent) to undergraduate teaching activities, a higher percentage than that devoted to graduate teaching activities (11 percent), research (11 percent), administrative tasks (10 percent), and all other tasks (21 percent). Similar patterns were observed among full- and part-time faculty.

However, faculty with a higher academic rank spent more of their time on research and graduate teaching activities and less of their time on undergraduate teaching activities than their junior colleagues. For example, at 4-year doctoral institutions, full-time full professors spent 48 percent of their work time on research and graduate teaching activities, a higher percentage than that spent by full-time instructors/lecturers (22 percent). Conversely, full-time instructors spent one-half of their work time on undergraduate teaching activities, compared with the 21 percent spent by full-time full professors.