Docent? Associate Professor?

[englishhobby]

I have difficulty in translating into English the names of university positions in my culture (Russia). We have the following positions of staff (starting from the lowest ranking one):
1) Assistant Professor ? - This is a teacher at university who holds seminars and practical courses.
2) Docent? / Associate Professor? / Reader? - This person does the same as 1) plus giving lectures, helping undergraduate students and magistrates with their diplomas, doing scientific research etc.
3) Professor ? This person does the same as 2) plus organizing scientific research on a higher level.

[5jj]

In British universities the ranking is usually:

Lecturer, roughly equivalent to 'Assistant Professor' in American Universities.
Senior Lecturer, somewhere between the American Assistant and Associate Professor.
Reader, roughly equivalent to the American Associate Professor
Professor, the American Full Professor.

All of these may give lectures, conduct seminars, and assist students with Master's and PhD work. The difference is mainly in the administrative reponsibilities they have within the department, and the amount of time they may have for research.

[englishhobby]

Thank you, 5jj,
and if a "lecturer" or a "reader" does not read lectures (as is the case in the Department of Foreign Languages in our university where the main job of most teachers consists in teaching practical skills, though some of them do give lectures), can he/she still be called a "lecturer" or a "reader"?

[5jj]

The general term for all 'teachers' at a university below the rank of professor is 'lecturer' whatever the nature of their work.