A new report demonstrates that faculty can be incredibly productive, producing much more revenue for universities than their salaries cost.

The report examines faculty at the University of Texas at Austin and was prepared by Mark A. Musick, an Assistant Dean in the university’s College of Liberal Arts.

“What the data show is that the faculty are extremely productive on average,” Musick indicated.  “Professors generate more money in terms of research funding and teaching than they’re paid, by a wide margin.”

The Texas report finds that: “University of Texas faculty members produced about $558-million in revenue, combining teaching and external grants, while the compensation they received from state dollars amounted to $257-million during the 2009-10 academic year. The teaching revenue is calculated by the money the state allocates to universities per credit-hour of teaching.”

The report also indicates that “The highest-paid faculty members generate the most money for the university. Those earning annual salaries of $175,000 or more cost the state $107-million but brought in $218-million in research grants and money from the state.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the Texas report and its wider context. The Texas report could potentially serve as a model for universities across that United States that are wanting to gauge faculty productivity, so faculty will want to become familiar with the Texas report.