College teachers evaluate their titles, and senior leaders' instructions can replace top journal papers, and even discount several papers

In mainland China, there is a trend towards "promotion or departure" in colleges and universities, with the aim of selecting teachers with high academic output that meet the needs of universities. However, the "promotion or departure" of some colleges and universities has gradually "mutated", like a sharp sword pointed at college teachers. Some "wide in and wide out", which can be called "not rising but leaving"; Some "are not promoted or transferred", and if they can't become associate professors, they will go to administration, logistics, and security; Some let professors also join the cutthroat competition, and if they don't pass, they will be demoted or even dismissed......

A series of social events have made the controversy about "either rising or leaving" never stop.

Professors from Tsinghua University shared some observations and thoughts on university academics and assessments on social platforms.

Academically unproductive

It doesn't mean that you can't teach, and it doesn't mean that you're lazy

It is very sad to see the news that some young teachers in colleges and universities have committed suicide because of the system of either promotion and departure/demotion and demotion is very sad. The current system of "promotion and leave" implemented by domestic universities has made young scholars generally very anxious. I've always wondered how creative work, in an anxious environment, can produce high-quality results? As far as academic creation is concerned, the university itself has enriched the soil, and with the abundant soil of water and grass, it will naturally be able to grow strong trees.

Some people may think that universities should not raise lazy people, but you can't expect every university teacher to be a great scholar in the first place. What's more, the university is mainly a place to cultivate talents, and if there are no academic results, it does not mean that the teaching is not good, let alone that it is lazy. The current assessment system will only result in university teachers investing more in research and less in teaching. In the end, the "both want and want" in the system setting will only lead to not only the original problems not being solved, but also bringing many new problems. How is it possible to expect to invest more in research and project applications without compromising on teaching?

Many students complain that their supervisors have too little control over their studies, including thesis guidance. It is not excluded that there are a few irresponsible tutors, but from the general situation, there are also a lot of helplessness on the mentor's side, especially the tutor who has not yet solved the problem of professional title. Under the pressure of scientific research, coupled with the fact that the teaching tasks are objectively heavy, and there are various meetings, it is also necessary to apply for topics, and then it is difficult to squeeze out a lot of time to focus on student training. To be honest, in today's colleges and universities, teaching is basically a living conscience. How much to invest in teaching and whether you are willing to give time to students mainly depends on the tutor's personal conscience and sense of responsibility.

The system is changed over and often, in the end, all parties are more dissatisfied, because the situation has worsened. Of course, it may be unfair to say that the root lies in the management of the university, because the university itself is also dictated by various evaluation indicators. If the university management falls behind in the double first-class and subject evaluations, there will be tremendous pressure on the university management. This should be the reason why the article of the delivery rider trapped in the system resonated with so many people.

Nevertheless, I still believe that compared with ordinary teachers, university management needs to bear and relieve some pressure as much as possible, and compared with students, teachers should bear and relieve pressure more, rather than passing on pressure layer by layer, or even exacerbating it. The reason is simple, with great power comes great responsibility. Increasing the downward pressure will only worsen the situation and become more and more distant from the original intention of the institutional change. When can you try to transfer pressure upwards instead of downwards?

Instructions from senior leaders

It can replace top journal papers, and even discount several papers

At present, the non-promotion and departure system of domestic colleges and universities and the promotion of teachers' titles mainly depend on the publication of papers, project applications (national or provincial and ministerial projects) and leadership instructions.

In terms of paper publication, there are special restrictions on the journal in which the paper is published, which must be published in the authoritative or core journal of the specialty. To add insult to injury, because there is also a special evaluation and ranking system for the influence of professional journals, journals prefer to publish papers from well-known professors, because this can improve the citation rate and the impact factor of the journal, and they are reluctant to publish papers by young scholars. This makes it difficult for young scholars to publish in professional core journals.

In terms of project application, university teachers must have a national, provincial or ministerial level project in order to complete the indicators of non-promotion and professional title evaluation. National-level projects are mainly funded by the Natural Science Foundation in the field of natural sciences, and projects by the National Social Science Foundation in the field of humanities and social sciences. The total number of projects at the provincial and ministerial levels is also quite limited. With so many college teachers in the country, almost everyone needs to have a topic at hand, and it is inevitable that the competition will be fierce when there are too many monks and too little porridge. Whether the project can be successfully applied for is a great chance and does not necessarily depend on one's own academic strength.

In terms of leadership instructions, the higher the level of leadership, the greater the help for retention and title promotion in colleges and universities. Of course, the specific practices of each university will vary, and the weight given will be different. A colleague from a sister university once mentioned to me that at his university, the approval of senior leaders can replace papers in top journals, and even discount several papers. Under such evaluation indicators, it is inevitable that some university teachers will spend their energy on how to obtain instructions from leaders.

Under this "both and want" evaluation system, the time and energy of university teachers to teach and guide students will naturally be greatly affected. In order to prevent teachers from under-investing in teaching, some universities will set corresponding indicators to force them, put forward teaching requirements, or even veto them. Under such layers of binding, how can the group of young university teachers not be anxious?

Regarding the professor's mention that "the instructions of senior leaders can replace papers in top journals, and even be discounted for several papers", some Zhihu netizens also shared a similar situation:

Horizontal topics are easier to transform achievements and appear in the form of instructions and adoption, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai are now flourishing in the style of approval and adoption, and a provincial and ministerial leader's instructions are more than a top journal.

As an important institution in the field of Chinese humanities and social sciences, Chinese University has carried out reform and innovation in the evaluation of personnel and talents in recent years, which also mentions relevant policies and examples of the reduction of results in teacher evaluation.

Many outstanding achievements have been recognized as first-class achievements through strict procedures, such as the decision-making consultation report submitted by the applicant for the second-level position of a professor has been included in important excerpts and obtained affirmative instructions, which is converted into 1 Class A academic paper; The papers published by the applicant for the first-level position of an associate professor in top academic journals in Germany are recognized as Class A papers by the academic committee of the college.

In terms of personnel and talent evaluation, Chinese University has actively changed its concept, from a single academic achievement evaluation to a comprehensive multi-dimensional evaluation, and effectively solved the difficult problems that have plagued many years and repeatedly occurred policy adjustments, such as the application of core journal catalogs in different periods in the evaluation of professional titles and job hiring, the mismatch between the level of journals and the level of papers, the ranking of paper authors and the identification of contributions, and the inability to use multiple achievements.

However, as the professors feared, the higher the level of leadership, the greater the help for retention and promotion in colleges and universities. The instructions of senior leaders can replace the papers of top journals, and even discount the evaluation indicators of several articles, it is inevitable that some university teachers will spend their energy on how to obtain the instructions of the leaders, and lose their energy to teach and research with peace of mind!