Why Become a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) 

The Department of Bioengineering welcomes and strongly encourages doctoral students to support the academic mission of the department through the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Programme. As a GTA you will work closely alongside our academic staff to provide an outstanding learning experiences for our undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

By getting involved in teaching, you will learn how to convey complex technical concepts and manage classroom dynamics and improve your own specialist knowledge both theoretical and practical. Teaching is a core component of working in academia, so by working as a GTA, you can gain experience, build your own teaching portfolio, and develop your own teaching style. Teaching is also a valuable experience outside academia and will equip you with skills of benefit for all roles involving leadership. 

You will have access to high quality training and support through the GTA Programme (GTAP) which is accredited by the Higher Education Academy at D1, Associate Fellowship status.

How to Apply

As a GTA in the Department of Bioengineering, you will have access to a variety of training and support both within the Department and from College through the Graduate School.  Some of this training is mandatory depending on the GTA activity as detailed below.

Imperial College Graduate School 

Graduate School: Core Courses

The GTA Programme (GTAP) provides training and support to postgraduate researchers who are engaged as Graduate Teaching Assistants at Imperial.  

Although the College’s employment policy states that full time students should not work more than 10-15 hours per week, the Graduate School recommends that GTA’s should not teach more than 6 hours per week. The Department also advocates this.** Usually, this means that GTA’s can teach up to 2 modules per week. Assuming that there are 25 teaching weeks, you should not work more than 150 hours in total across an academic year. Tier 4 students are reminded that they are legally not allowed to work more than 20 hours per week.

**However, there may be some flexibility for the number of hours per week for those who are not on a Tier 4 visa, during the summer term. Y1 and Y2 have wet labs, and because they typically last for 4 weeks, this means the timetable is condensed and so the number of overall hours available is not as many as the autumn and spring terms. You will still need to secure your supervisors' permission for this. Those on a Tier 4 visa will still be restricted to 20 hours per week. 

Support of teaching activities in the department is paid at one of three rates, depending on the activity in question:

• Band A: £30.41/hour* for duties such as:
  • 1-to-1, Journal Club Leader, Lecture and Study Groups.
• Band B: £22.74/hour* for duties such as:
  • Preparation, assessment setup, computer lab, drop-in, exam testing, invigilation, lab demonstration, marking, moderator, non-teaching, note taker, project support, second marking, and UG interview day group tasks.
• Band C: £18.48/hour* for duties such as:
  • Open day tours and some specific outreach activities.
• Study groups and lab sessions: £22.74* fixed preparation fee
  • Whilst the expectation is that GTAs have good knowledge of the material, the Department acknowledges that some additional preparation may be required and so pays a fixed preparation rate. Note if you teach two or more sessions that cover the same material (e.g. the same lab every week) you can only claim one fixed preparation amount for these.

*Note, each of these rates are supplemented with a 12.07% automatic holiday in lieu enhancement, so the pay you receive before tax will be slightly higher than the rates quoted here which are input into the casual worker system

Please also note that any additional work must be authorised beforehand. Do not conduct extra work without approval. Please speak to the module leader who will then contact the GTA Officer, Dr Nicolas Newell (n.newell09@imperial.ac.uk), to seek authorisation.

You will be sent an email with detailed instructions about how to register for payment and how to log your hours. It is important to ensure that you submit the relevant documents ASAP. You will not be granted access to the system for logging hours until the Student Office receives confirmation that you have submitted all paperwork. You will receive an email when you have been granted access to this system and it will include a link, which we recommend you bookmark, and you can log your hours through there. GTA hours should be logged on a weekly basis.

GTA work if you are a PDRA

Whilst most GTA work is undertaken by PhDs, in certain circumstances PDRAs are allowed to undertake GTA work in the Department, however, as College staff, PDRAs may not be paid additionally for their GTA work.

The Department does however, allocate an equivalent value credit to an account which the PDRA may use for research related expenditure such as conference travel, or lab equipment. Postdocs are not permitted to attend the graduate school training courses and therefore their eligibility to undertake the work must be assessed by their supervisor.

If you complete GTA hours as a PDRA, the module lead must inform both Nic Newell (as GTA Coordinator) and the Department Finance Office bioeng-orders@imperial.ac.uk of your hours and rate of pay to be logged. You may then track your virtual balance or request orders or expenses charged to your balance also via email to bioeng-orders@imperial.ac.uk. 

At the start of each term, it is your responsibility to ensure you have taken the following steps: