Full-time equivalent day
A full-time equivalent (FTE) day is defined as the number of hours in a standard working day for the industry associated with the research end-user. A FTE day is calculated using the standard working day for a research end-user host’s industry. In the absence of an industry standard, the National Employment Standards sets out a maximum full-time week as 38 hours, or a standard working day of 7.6 hours.
Example
A research doctorate student is attending an internship at the Australian Public Service. Using the Australian Public Service’s 37.5-hour work week, one FTE day is equal to 7.5 hours.
A research doctorate student’s engagement in research internship activities in one week is as follows:
Monday: 2 hours
Tuesday: 2 hours
Wednesday: 2 hours
Thursday: 1.5 hours
Total hours: 7.5
Therefore, the total number of FTE days of engagement the student has completed that week is 1.
Application of glossary term: