In my home country (India) the academic job hierarchy used to be "Lecturer" --> "Reader" --> "Professor" Somewhere in the last decade or so this nomenclature w

In my home country (India) the academic job hierarchy used to be "Lecturer" --> "Reader" --> "Professor" Somewhere in the last decade or so this nomenclature was revised to "Assistant Professor", "Associate Professor", and "Professor". I can't speak to the rationale for this, but it brings it in line with the naming convention in the US. While the minimum requirement for an Assistant Professor job in India is a Masters, in practice now you really need at least 2+ years of Postdoc experience. To move up to an Associate Prof. position, the minimum requirement is at least 5+ years of post PhD experience, to have guided at least one PhD student, and n number of publications with x Impact Factor. A Professor requires at least 10 years of post PhD experience, and at least 3 PhD students. Of course, these are minimum requirements, and I know of several people who far exceed those qualifications and still waiting to move up the ladder. For example, a senior from my graduate lab has been an Assistant Prof for about 14 years now, has 15+ publications, and 3 PhD students who've gained their degrees.