Wages, Benefits, and the Promotion Process for Chinese University Faculty

Abstract

The most important first step, both symbolically and in practical terms, toward restructuring higher education in China following the destructive years of the Cultural Revolution was the re;establishment of the national entrance examination for universities and graduate schools in 1977. While this had the direct effect of improving the quality of students entering universities, no similar quick fix was available for reinvigorating university faculty. As seen in the I following passage, written by a university administrator in Shanghai, the personnel system at Chinese universities in the late 1970s was not conducive to effective teaching or research.