College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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The Stanford University Student to Faculty Ratio & Faculty Composition

What is the faculty composition at Stanford ?

Get a feel for student life at Stanford University by checking out the information on classes and faculty below.

Excellent Student to Faculty Ratio

Student to faculty ratio is a common metric used to gauge the number of teaching resources a school provides for its students. With 5 students for every one instructional faculty member, Stanford University ranks among the best colleges when compared to the national average of 15.

Breakdown of Instructional Staff

The following table shows all the employees the school considers instructional, and therefore, part of the above student-to-faculty ratio. These include both those employees designated as either "primarily instructional" or as "instructional combined with research/public service". It does not include employees that have been identified by Stanford University as primarily performing research or public service.

TotalFull TimePart TimePercent Full Time
Total of Instructional Employees1,6141,46914591.0%
Total of Those With Faculty Status1,1331,127699.5%
Tenured Faculty851846599.4%
On Tenure Track257257-100.0%
Not on Tenure Track2524196.0%
Without Faculty Status48134213971.1%
Graduate Assistants930-930-

How Seriously Does This School Take Hiring Full-Time Teachers? Very Seriously

Stanford University's utilization of full-time teaching staff ranks among the highest in the nation, with 91.0% of instructors employed full time.

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Reliance on Part-Time Teachers is Way Below Average

At Stanford University , only 9.0% of the teaching staff are part-time non-faculty or non-tenure track faculty. This use of adjuncts is far below the national average of 51.4%, which could be indicative of Stanford University's commitment to building a strong, long-term instructional team.

Colleges often use part-time professors and adjuncts to teach courses, rather than full-time faculty. This hiring practice is primarily a way to save money amid increasingly tight budgets. However, it is a controversial practice with strong views on either side. We encourage you to understand this topic more deeply, and how the colleges you are interested in approach faculty hiring. It's your education and your money on the line. Make sure you know what you are getting for it.

Additional Information

Grad Assistants May Teach Classes

Stanford University has 930 instructional graduate assistants that teach or provide teaching-related duties. These responsibilities could range from entirely teaching lower-level courses themselves, to assisting professors by developing teaching materials, preparing or giving exams and grading student work. We suggest you ask the college to what extent graduate assistants are relied on for instruction, so you know what you are paying for.

Additionally, the school has 2,130 non-instructional graduate assistants.

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