Either you get promoted or you get fired. What’s the next step?
2024-08-16
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Either you get promoted or you get fired. What’s the next step?
Banyuetan reporter Zheng Tianhong and Li Ziwei
The "promotion or leave" system has been introduced in China for more than 30 years and is being adopted by more and more universities. This system aims to break the "iron rice bowl" of university teachers and change the phenomenon of university teachers' "being able to go up but not down, being able to enter but not leave" status. However, in recent years, the "promotion or leave" system of some universities has been hotly debated, especially the "unfriendly" attitude towards young teachers has been paid more and more attention and discussion. Many experts and researchers said that the "promotion or leave" system is in urgent need of change.
Introducing competition to break the “iron rice bowl”
The "promotion or leave" system originated from the tenure evaluation system in the United States. In 1993, Tsinghua University first introduced and piloted the "promotion or leave" system. Since then, other domestic universities have followed suit, gradually forming the current university teacher appointment system marked by the "pre-employment-long-term employment system", that is, the "promotion or leave" system.
Xu Lan, a professor at the Center for Higher Education Development Research at Xiamen University, said that since the 1990s, my country's universities have undergone a series of reforms, including "tenure system - talent unit ownership - separation of evaluation and appointment". Under the previous system, it was very difficult to dismiss an unqualified teacher. After the introduction of the "promotion or leave" system, the working atmosphere of university teachers has changed greatly. Even professors with a regular position will be demoted or even suspended from graduate student recruitment if they fail to meet the assessment requirements during the contract period.
A common practice of this system is that newly hired young teachers sign a labor contract in the form of "pre-employment or quasi-employment" when they enter the school. During the agreed employment period (usually two terms, each term is 3 years), they must complete the specified assessment indicators. Those who meet the requirements and pass the assessment can obtain long-term employment or be transferred to the public service system. Otherwise, their contract will not be renewed.
Ma Jun, a professor at Shanghai University, said that the "promotion or leave" system aims to establish an employment mechanism in which "the capable are promoted, the mediocre are replaced, the mediocre are demoted, and the inferior are eliminated." It is of great significance to promote the rational flow of talents in colleges and universities, optimize the faculty structure, activate teachers' work enthusiasm, and promote high-level talents to stand out.
Many university interviewees said that the "promotion or leave" system broke the "iron rice bowl" of university teachers, introduced a competitive mechanism into the personnel system of universities, and solved the problems of seniority and years of waiting for teachers to be promoted. "If it weren't for the 'promotion or leave' system, I might not have such a strong motivation for scientific research, especially when I just finished writing a difficult doctoral thesis, it would be easy to take a two-year break and muddle through." Fang Xin (pseudonym), a young teacher at a university in Shanxi who has been employed for nearly four years, said that an effective incentive system is necessary for most teachers.
Use "numbers" instead of evaluation, and "walking" instead of management
Recently, some news events related to the "promotion or leave" policy have continued to enter the public eye, sparking heated discussions online and resonating with many "green peppers" (short for young teachers). Some "green peppers" reflected that the "academic tournament" under the "promotion or leave" policy has led to excessive competition among university teachers.
Some interviewed "young professors" said that the academic achievements for job title evaluation cannot be calculated according to the threshold stipulated by the system, but should be calculated based on the competitors, "you never know how much is enough". A teacher from a university in Guangdong said that 10 years ago, he was appointed as an associate professor at the age of 32, published 12 CSSCI journal papers, presided over 5 provincial and ministerial projects, including a National Social Science Fund Youth Project, and won 3 government academic awards. This achievement was considered average at the time of evaluation, but now it is far from enough.
"It used to be said that it takes ten years to sharpen a sword, but now even a year is not enough. You can only produce work quickly and produce more work, otherwise you will lose your job." Xiao Li, a young teacher at a 985 university in the south, said that from the first day he entered the school, the game rule of "paper is king" became his "curse" and kept jumping in his mind.
During the interview, some young professors described their status as pursuing "excellence without soul". "At most, I devote 30% to teaching, and the remaining 70% to scientific research. This is the golden rule for most universities to survive. Don't ask me if I am doing this right by the students. I have to consider staying first," said a young professor.
Many interviewees believe that a few universities have transformed the "promotion or leave" policy into using "numbers" instead of evaluation and "leave" instead of management.
Some universities "focus more on assessment than training" for young researchers, and pay one-sided attention to the number of academic publications in the assessment. A young teacher from a university in central China said that in order to improve the school rankings, or obtain master's and doctoral programs, and have some disciplines selected as "double first-class", local undergraduate colleges have issued corresponding indicators to departments, which are then reflected in the assessment of the number of teachers' papers. On the surface, the school has made good development achievements, but most of them are for quantity, not quality. An academician from a 985 university in the south said that some university scholars are now not researching what they are most interested in, nor what society needs most, but what can produce results the fastest.
In some universities, the "promotion or leave" policy has been questioned as a "leek-cutting" and utilitarian and short-sighted system. Many doctoral students told Banyuetan reporters that some universities have introduced a large number of young teachers, and the elimination rate has even exceeded 90% after three years. Ma Jun said that universities have limited staffing, for example, there is only one staffing, but they have introduced multiple doctoral students. If they are informed in advance and the standards for obtaining the position are clear, it is understandable. If not, the failure to renew their employment for this reason may cause a major blow to their academic careers.
Chen Xianzhe, a professor at the School of Educational Sciences of South China Normal University, said that in the process of implementing the "promotion or leave" system, a few universities have turned it into a "short, flat and fast" way of screening and evaluating young talents, which is not conducive to long-term talent evaluation and cultivation.
Creating a healthy growth environment for young scholars
At present, colleges and universities are generally strengthening the construction of talent teams. What policies should be adopted for talent recruitment, evaluation, incentives, and protection are common issues. The experts interviewed believe that the "promotion or leave" system should be improved from the following aspects.
First, returning to the "promotion or leave" system is the essence of talent selection. Xu Lan said that in some universities, the "promotion or leave" system has been alienated to a certain extent into a tool for pursuing short-term scientific research performance. To solve this problem, universities must fundamentally return to the core concept of the "pre-employment-long-term employment" system, that is, to select young scholars with academic ambitions and potential, allowing them to focus on research fields or expand new interdisciplinary directions. Ma Jun suggested that sufficient and good academic development conditions should be created for pre-employed young scholars, including providing them with scientific research start-up funds and laboratory space, and giving them the qualifications to recruit and train graduate students.
Secondly, optimize specific systems and improve the mechanism for protecting the rights and interests of young teachers. Colleges and universities should set clear recruitment ratios when recruiting, and should not recruit too many "promotion-or-leave" personnel. In addition, the protection of teachers' rights and interests should be integrated into the entire process of system implementation, such as forcing information disclosure during recruitment and insisting on teachers' participation in contract signing.
Finally, we should strengthen the top-level design and intensify the efforts to "break the five onlys". Universities cannot simply decide whether a teacher stays or leaves based on the "quantity" and "level" of academic achievements. What is more important is to pay attention to the innovative value of academic achievements and change the current situation of "paper-only and quantitative-only" evaluation and appointment. Fang Xin suggested that we should formulate reasonable goals, performance guidance and guidance systems, combine the characteristics of the school and the type of school, implement classified and hierarchical evaluation for teachers of different types and levels, and implement differentiated evaluation and appointment systems and management measures.
