The professor-researcher works in a higher education institution. As its name suggests, his mission is twofold: he is a professor, supervises higher education students, transmits its knowledge to them and supervises their learning cursus. But he is also a researcher: he works for years on a research topic on which he writes articles, gives conferences and supervises doctoral researchers.

The professor-researcher, through teaching and research, fulfills a public service mission of higher education. As such, the professor-researcher is required to perform a certain number of tasks during the academic year:

• provide quality and up-to-date lectures, related to developments in science, knowledge, technology, pedagogical and didactic methods, in accordance with ethical and professional standards;
• conduct practical work or tutorials with a smaller group of students. He may also be called upon to carry out "colles", these individual oral exams which aim to evaluate the students.
• prepare the course offered each semester, with the help of the rest of the pedagogical staff.
• participate in the development of knowledge and ensure the transmission of knowledge as part of initial and continuing training;
• preparing exams and correcting answer sheets.
• supervise dissertations or theses: he accompanies one or more master's or doctoral students, helps them to find a research topic, suggests avenues and readings, reviews and comments on their writings, and accompanies them during the defense.
• The professor-researcher is required to ensure a teaching charge whose annual reference hourly volume is set at 192 hours of courses. This hourly volume translates into 288 hours of tutorials or 384 hours of practical works in accordance with the following equalization: one (1) hour of courses is equivalent to one hour and a half (1h 30 min) of tutorials and two (2 ) hours of practical works.

At the same time, he pursues his own research in a specific area of ​​his teaching field. He reports on its progress by:

• carrying out research-training activities to develop his skills and abilities to exercise the function of professor-researcher.
• writing articles in journals, or publishing specialized books;
• participating in conferences or colloquia.

Becoming a university professor: Professor requirements

The professor-researcher is above all a theoretician: this profession is reserved for people gifted in abstraction, writing, library research... He is also a passionate person, capable of digging into and working on the same subject for years.

However, the professor-researcher is not isolated all year round in his office. He is in regular contact with the students and with the outside world. The researcher works in a team and often leaves his laboratory. He exchanges a lot with the outside through numerous collaborations (national and international) as well as popularization days for the general public!

Thus he must have a sense of pedagogy, in order to make his subject understood by undergraduate or master's students when he leads courses in an amphitheatre, or during events for the general public. He must also be able to effectively supervise a doctoral student during his research. Finally, he must have an ease when he speaks in public, which will be useful to him during the conferences in which he regularly participates throughout his career.

Professor-researcher: career / possibility of evolution:

The cycles of degrees to become a professor-researcher are long. This is why many doctoral researchers teach in middle or high school while they complete their theses. Once they have become doctors or after having defended their Magister dissertations, they can apply to take the recruitment competition for assistant professor.

After one to four years of teaching and research and after his confirmation in the position, an assistant professor with a doctorate becomes an associate professor and can also apply for the university habilitation, which will allow him to to be a supervisor of students dissertations or theses.

Finally, he can, later, apply to the national university commission for the promotion of associate professors to the rank of professor (on average, the candidates are aged around forty).

Become a professor-researcher: training required

To become a professor-researcher, it is necessary to complete the cycle of university studies, which first includes five/seven years of study (from the bachelor's degree to the master/magister), then it is generally necessary to complete doctorate (lasting minimum of 4 years).

Generally, the doctoral student teaches as a National Education official, usually in a high school. At the same time, he is finishing his doctoral thesis. When this is completed, he passes a defense, and becomes a doctor. He can then apply for assistant professor positions. Once recruited, the new recruit completes a year of internship,

Becoming a professor-researcher is the culmination of a long cycle of studies: professor-researchers are around thirty years old on average. Few of them exercise. Indeed, a university professor remains in position for many years: there is therefore little movement in this profession, and hiring is very limited. However, doctoral students who fail to find employment in a university generally find work in the national education sector, and most often work in high school.