Regents Policy 2305: Policy on Sabbatical Leaves of Absence

Adopted November 16, 1962
Amended July 18, 2003

The Regents of the University of California hereby reaffirms the following principles with respect to sabbatical leaves of absence:

The University exists for the sake of carrying on certain functions. The Special Committee on Educational Policy of the Academic Senate has already defined the aims and ends to be served by the fundamental activities of the University. It follows that the individual members of the faculty and the individual departments of the University are the instruments and servants of those ideal ends for the sake of which the university exists, such as the advancement of learning, the spread of knowledge, and the cultivation of capacities.

1. Research and scholarly endeavors are and have long been recognized as essential to the furtherance of the educational purposes for which the University of California exists;
2. The University can succeed in accomplishing such purposes only if it can maintain an able and proficient faculty;
3. Ability and proficiency in university teaching and scholarly endeavors require that present knowledge and skills be supplemented by continuing research, deliberation, and experimentation;
4. At the University of California, sabbatical leaves of absence are not and have not been granted as a matter of individual right; rather they are and have been accorded to qualified members of the academic staff to enable them to enhance their service to the University and thereby increase its distinction;
5. At the University of California, sabbatical leaves are granted and in the past have been granted to permit faculty members to maintain and improve teaching skills and scholarly ability and proficiency by engaging in periodic and intensive programs of research and study;
6. Sabbatical leaves of absence have been and continue to be granted in recognition of the fact that they are appropriate, helpful, and necessary to enable faculty members to fulfill their professional obligations to the University; and
7. Research or other academic accomplishment is and has long been expected of those members of the academic staff of the University of California who are given sabbatical leaves of absence.