sabbatical

Leave time with pay granted to a teacher or professor after serving for six or seven years on the same faculty. Its purpose is to give an extended period of time for concentrated study. A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an otherwise successful individual taken in order to fulfill some dream, e.g. writing a book or travelling extensively. Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and/or academics offer a paid sabbatical as an employee benefit