10 Types of Lecturers You'll Encounter in University
University is a melting pot of people, and lecturers are no exception! We’ve curated the 10 types of lecturers you’re bound to encounter on campus.
Updated 08 May 2019
University is a diverse place where you will meet all sorts of characters. From hardcore party animals to library campers, it’s never short of quirky individuals that you will love or loathe.
With that said, your lecturers are no exception, too!
Whether it’s the ruthless Annalise Keatings, the strict but fair Minerva McGonagalls or the stoic Severus Snapes, you can always find a lecturer or two who fall into one of these 10 types in university.
#1. The Technology Illiterate
The Technology Illiterate is a lecturer who fails to grasp the simplest technology. You can expect them to occasionally ask students how to connect their laptops to the projector or wifi, or spot them typing “www.” in the browser search bar.
Sometimes, you can’t decide if you should roll your eyes in frustration or feel sorry that they’re stuck in a roomful of snickering technology-adept youngsters.
#2. The Gen-Xers
The grumpy Gen-X generation of lecturers can be annoying for always referring to students as “your generation”, making the age gap more obvious.
Forever stuck in the groovy 70s or the electric 80s, many Gen-X lecturers are often oblivious to the latest trends and pop culture — some may even fall into the Technology Illiterate category!
Even if they’re not the stuffy kind, some Gen-X lecturers may try to fit in with the younger crowd but fail to do so because they’re quoting memes from 5 years ago. #facepalm
#3. The Tough Cookie
The Tough Cookies are the no-nonsense lecturers whose sole purpose is to deliver the syllabus down to a T, and that’s it. They take their job very seriously, which means you’ll have to stick to their rules or risk being on their “blacklist” for the rest of the semester!
These rules may include being punctual for class, ensuring your assignments have met the “Times New Roman / Arial / Calibri, size 12 font and a minimum of 10 references” and keeping your mobile devices on silent during class or risk their wrath.
The Tough Cookie lecturer is sometimes stingy — they don’t show mercy when marking assignments or exams. Even a variation of the correct answer isn’t acceptable, so you can expect your papers to be a bloody mess at the end of the week.
#4. The Stand-Up Comedian
If a lecture or tutorial lesson has you in stitches each time, you probably have had a stand-up comedian as a lecturer. They take every opportunity to crack a joke or make a pun, regardless of the situation.
A small smirk from a student is enough to encourage the Stand-Up Comedian to go on for the rest of the semester. From making fun of a student or mocking another member of the faculty, this lecturer is not short of a funny bone and will try their best to make you cry with laughter each time.
#5. The Bard
Ever the storyteller, this lecturer always has a story to tell for every experience he’s been through, whether it’s “back in my day” or “this happened to a friend of mine once”.
In fact, he can go on and on about the time he backpacked across South America but miss the point of the class he’s supposed to be teaching — you’ll leave class with plenty of information on ancient Mayan rituals but nothing about macroeconomics.
Prepare for SPM With EduBijak
Choose a smarter way of revising with our smart AI SPM tutors who have been trained with past-year exam papers and trial exams.
Explore Now >#6. The Cool Lecturer
The Cool Lecturer is akin to the cool friend everyone wants to be friends with — they may be decked in the latest fashion trends and styles (e.g. adidas NMDs, Sephora makeup), watches the same programmes as you do (i.e. Game of Thrones) and may even hang out with students and allow them to be friends on Facebook.
As approachable as they may be, don’t mistake the Cool Lecturer for a pushover — they know that there’s a time and place for a joke and when it’s time to get serious. Be sure to keep in touch with this one as you’ll never know when you might need them to provide you a reference for your postgraduate studies or for work!
#7. The One You Take for Granted
A.k.a. the nicest lecturers in the world.
They’re the ones who turn a blind eye to latecomers, accept late submissions and smile even in the face of adversity (a.k.a troublemaker students).
Because they’re so nice, they’re usually soft-spoken and need a microphone to conduct a class of 40 — that’s your average secondary school classroom! And that’s when you can’t help but take advantage of their niceness — you tune out of their lectures, play games on your phone, talk over them or worse, walk out of their class, knowing they’re too meek to do anything about it.
But be warned! When pushed over the edge, you can expect an angry slam of a book, followed by pin-drop silence and a barrage of rants about how ungrateful and disrespectful everyone is.
#8. The Laidback Larry
This lecturer’s classes are often brief and succinct, usually lasting a speedy 30 minutes instead of a full hour before dismissing the class.
The Laidback Larry doesn’t care if you attend his lectures or not as long as he’s there to do what he’s paid to do and that you hand in your assignments on time. To boot, his assignments can be borderline easy to comprehend and complete, and you can expect him to turn up to lectures clad in T-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
#9. The Fashionista
If you’ve encountered a lecturer, usually a female, who always looks impeccable and professionally put together for an 8am lecture that they’re your #fashioninspiration, you probably have a Fashionista lecturer.
As the most stylish lecturer in the faculty, she’s usually accompanied by a sleek laptop cradled in the crook of her elbow and can often be found strutting into the lecture hall with a takeaway Starbucks cup in hand.
The Fashionista lecturer may have some characteristics of the Cool Lecturer and Laidback Larry, but be wary if you think you can take her for granted!
#10. The Spoilt Recorder
Boring and monotonous, the Spoilt Recorder is a lecturer who reads word for word from textbooks or presentation slides without providing an explanation to students, thinking that the text is self-explanatory and sufficient study material.
You can expect them to have as many as 60 slides per lesson, with each slide filled from top to bottom with paragraphs copied from the textbook. #facepalm
Best solution? Self study and hope for the best in your assignments and exams.
Lecturers can sometimes be otherworldly beings from whom you must keep your distance, but at the end of the day, they’re just like us! They, too, started out as university students who tormented their lecturers. But with enough patience and determination, we’re positive you can navigate your way around them!
What other types of lecturers have you encountered in university? Share them with us in the comments below!
If these 10 types of lecturers sound familiar to you, you’ll also recognise these people you’ll meet in university.
Natasha Sin
I went outside once. That was before Netflix.
