![Sample our Language & Literature journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5941/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Language-Literature.jpg"})
Abstract
The “2014 Chinese University Faculty Survey” found that: University faculty in China are young, recent recipients of their academic degrees, and have a high level of inbreeding within academia; there is a high percentage of doctoral degree holders; a large proportion are from villages and towns, and have parents with low-level education and employment; overall they feel high levels of work pressure as well as job satisfaction. They work on average 45 hours a week and are paid nearly RMB 110,000 yuan per year. One third of them live in “policy apartments,” one third have no overseas experience, and one fifth would not choose the academic profession again if they had the chance. They would prefer a teaching to research ratio of 2:8, but their actual work ratio for teaching, research, and service is 4:4.5:1.5. Three conclusions may be drawn from the results of the survey: the academic profession is highly equitable, but would benefit from people from more diverse backgrounds joining; there is a high threshold for entering the profession but opportunities for advancement need to be improved; it is a highly specialized profession that places a high demand on academic excellence.
Notes
1 Shen Hong (Citation2011), “Lun xueshu zhiye de dute xing.”
2 The thirteen provinces and regions are: Beijing, Guangdong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanghai, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan, of which Jiangxi and Yunnan were new additions for this survey.
3 The academic disciplines were defined as: “Humanities” including literature, history, philosophy, law, and education; “Management” including economics and management studies; “Medical Sciences” including medicine and life sciences. The study excluded the data from the disciplines of agricultural sciences, art, and military studies, which constituted relatively few samples among the survey responses.
4 Chen Yuan, Yan Fenqiao, and Wen Dongmao (Citation2008), “Beijing shi gaoxiao jiaoshi.”
5 Lin Jie (2009), “Zhong-Mei liang guo daxue.”
6 Lu Xueyi (2002), “Dangdai Zhongguo shehui jieceng.”
7 Baidu, “Nong min gong” (Baidu online encyclopedia website Citation2014).
8 National Bureau of Statistics, Citation2013.
9 The five types of position included: the head of the unit; professional and technical personnel; administrative and related personnel; commercial and service personnel; production and transportation operators and related personnel. The professional and technical personnel referred to those whose work focused on different kinds of scientific research and specialized technical work. Those who engaged in such kinds of work were usually required to have undertaken systematic professional training, to have the relevant professional knowledge, and to have been assessed in their professional and technical roles according to the relevant regulations and standards. This also included those who had not yet been entrusted with a professional or technical role but worked in a professional or technical unit.
10 See Teichler, Arimoto, and Cummings (2013), The Changing Academic Profession.
11 Shen Hong (2011), “Lun xueshu zhiye de dute xing.”
12 For the purposes of this survey, concurrent roles in wider society included: work on academic journals and research projects, serving as external peer reviewers at other institutions, serving on the executive committee or as president or deputy president of professional scholarly association, and roles in government, at research institutes, in industry, and at other institutions of higher education.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Shen Hong
Shen Hong is chair professor in the Center for Higher Education Research, Southern University of Science & Technology, Shenzhen, China.