Some departments, especially in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Fine Arts, teach subjects that the state legislature has mandated that UT students must take to graduate. These Colleges hire mostly TAs, not AIs, to teach labs, run discussion sections, or grade. Special requirements of a program should be stated in writing. Normally a TA or AI can expect to be re-appointed contingent upon continuing good performance and academic progress. Appointment practices and numbers of appointments vary widely across campus in response to supply and demand.
Some departments have many more applicants than open slots, and competition is keen.
A desperate shortage compels some departments to recruit TAs or AIs from some other department or even another College. AIs give lectures, grade examinations and problem sets or other homework, hold office hours, assign grades. Commonly the syllabuses, which specify course content and sequence, and the examinations are prepared by group effort to achieve standardization across the department. Appointees in a language course may work in the tutorial center or computer lab rather than a classroom. In science or engineering, a TA would typically be in charge of labs or discussion sections.