Associate professor

Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the Commonwealth system.

In the North American system, used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position between assistant professor and a full professorship.<ref>associate professor, merriam-webster.com</ref><ref>associate professor, collinsdictionary.com</ref><ref>associate professor, dictionary.cambridge.org</ref> In this system, an associate professorship is typically the first promotion obtained after gaining a faculty position, and in the United States it is usually connected to tenure.<ref>What's The Difference Between an Associate Professor vs. Professor?, Bradley University</ref>

In the Commonwealth system, the title associate professor is traditionally used in place of reader in certain countries.<ref>Reader, academiccareermaps.org</ref><ref name="uk-academic-job-titles-explained">UK Academic Job Titles Explained, academicpositions.com</ref> Like the reader title it ranks above senior lecturer – which corresponds to associate professor in the North American system – and is broadly equivalent to a North American full professor, as the full professor title is held by far fewer people in the Commonwealth system.<ref name="changes-to-academic-titles-2021">Changes to academic titles in 2021/2022 - implementation, Human Resources, Cambridge University</ref> In this system, an associate professorship is typically the second or third promotion obtained after gaining an academic position, and someone promoted to associate professor has usually been a permanent employee already in their two previous ranks as lecturer and senior lecturer.<ref>Academic staff Role Profiles, University of Bristol</ref> Traditionally, British universities have used the title reader, while associate professor in place of reader is traditionally used in Australia and New Zealand,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Ireland within an otherwise British system of ranks. More recently, the university of Cambridge has adopted the North American system of ranks.<ref name="changes-to-academic-titles-2021" />

Comparison

The table presents a broad overview of the traditional main systems, but there are universities which use a combination of those systems or other titles. Some universities in Commonwealth countries have also entirely adopted the North American system in place of the Commonwealth system.<ref name="uk-academic-job-titles-explained" /><ref>The Same but Different: US vs UK Higher Education, The Duck of Minerva</ref><ref>Academia as Identity – a UK/US Comparison, theprofessorisin.com</ref>

North American system	Commonwealth system
(Full) Professor (endowed chair) (upper half, including distinguished professor or equivalent)	Professor (chair)
(Full) Professor (lower half)	Reader (or principal lecturer) (mainly UK) or associate professor (traditionally in Australia, Ireland, NZ, South Africa and Southeast Asia)
Associate professor (typically the first permanent position)	Senior lecturer
Assistant professor (commonly the entry-level position)	Lecturer (typically the first permanent position)
Instructor	Associate lecturer (commonly the entry-level position)