Chapter 18 Chapter 16 "Official Standard" in Colleges and Universities: The Unbearable Weight of Chinese Education

To develop Chinese colleges and universities, the most important thing is to break the "official standard" and devote ourselves to establishing a modern university system in colleges and universities that is based on teachers and academics. The Outline for the Implementation of the Strategy of Strengthening the University with Talents issued by Tianjin University on January 11, 2008 proposed that the school plans to train 100 academic leaders within 5 years, focus on training 300 young backbone teachers, and attract more internationally renowned high-end talents to work in the school , implement the "Peiyang Scholars" program, and create a group of academic innovation teams.

President Gong Ke of Tianjin University also made it clear at the press conference on the implementation of the talent strategy that the school will reform the academic committee, that personnel should be selected on the basis of professors’ genuine selection, and that power in academic construction should be returned to the academic committee.He believes that at present, the academic committees of many universities, including Tianda University, have almost become a subsidiary body of school decision-making. Undoubtedly, the series of reforms launched by Tianjin University hit the crux of the existing shortcomings of Chinese universities.The reporter's investigation found that in recent years, the administrative tendency of domestic colleges and universities has become more and more serious. Various major decisions of the school, even the discourse power in setting up disciplines and determining key development disciplines, are basically concentrated in the administrative power departments of colleges and universities.It can be said that the expansion of "official status" is becoming an unbearable burden for Chinese higher education.

Many experts interviewed believe that the "official standard" of colleges and universities is extremely harmful, and should be highly valued by the national education authorities, and should be committed to establishing a modern university system that is teacher-oriented and academic-oriented, and balances administrative power and academic power. Power, form a good academic environment and academic ecology. What is "Official Standard"?As the name suggests, it is based on the official, with the interest needs of the official and the value appeal of the official as the behavior orientation. Only the official is the most important and the only official is the most important.

On November 19, 2005, Zhao Qizheng resigned as the director of the State Council Information Office and took over as the dean of the School of Journalism of Renmin University of China from the ministerial level. On the letter of appointment given to me by the School of Journalism of the National People’s University of China, there is a bracket behind the dean, which says that I am at the same level.” Many people think that this interesting detail, on the other hand, subtly reflects the phenomenon of “official status” in colleges and universities The presence. To some extent, domestic colleges and universities seem to be a hierarchical officialdom.In some people's opinion, the status of colleges and universities is mainly divided by administrative levels, such as "deputy-ministerial-level universities", "main-department-level universities", and "department-level universities".Related to this, departments, committees, offices, departments, and other departments can be seen everywhere in colleges and universities, and their supervisors also have corresponding administrative levels.

This phenomenon is not only deeply understood by those who have worked in universities, but also by some government officials. On September 8, 2007, Zhao Qinping, vice minister of the Ministry of Education, pointed out at the forum on "Social and Cultural Construction and the Responsibilities of Contemporary Universities" held during the 45th anniversary celebration of Beijing Language and Culture University that some universities are now utilitarian, and the "official standard" tendency is also on the rise. Affecting the development of academics, the university's role as a beacon of the times and society will gradually lose its color.

Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, said in an interview with reporters: "In recent years, the phenomenon of 'official standard' in Chinese universities has intensified. From the outside, the main leaders of universities are appointed by the administration. Internally, universities are too Pursue internal administrative levels, and even people are used to converting teachers’ titles and treatment according to the level of administrative officials.” "The number of administrative personnel in my country's colleges and universities is also very large." A retired college teacher in Beijing told reporters, "Generally speaking, in a college with tens of thousands of students, there are about 200 cadres above the deputy director, section chief, director, There are more staff members, and the total number of party and government plus support personnel is more than a thousand, but teachers are in the minority. In some colleges and universities, the ratio of teachers to administrative support personnel is 1:1, and some are even more outrageous, reaching more than 1:2.” Some People pointed out that the idea of ​​"official standard" in colleges and universities has penetrated into many aspects such as party and government management, teaching and scientific research management, scholar evaluation and academic recognition, benefit distribution and even professional title recognition, and has profoundly affected every important aspect of colleges and universities. decision making.

"Under the current education system, the functions of my country's universities tend to be more management functions, and administrative officials have the right to speak in the allocation of human, financial, material and other resources in universities." A person from a university in Beijing who did not want to be named The professor complained: "Once you become an official in a university, you will have obvious advantages over ordinary teachers in obtaining scientific research projects, winning scientific research funds, and even evaluating professional titles. What's even more ridiculous is that even the identification of professor qualifications depends on many factors. The decision is made by the professional title evaluation committees at all levels in which administrative leaders participate, even though some of the heads of these departments are professors, they participate not as professors, but as administrative officials.”

"I feel sad when I see those luxurious administrative institutions. In many departments of colleges and universities, a clerk can have a spacious office with a computer with LCD screen. Some of our teachers don't even have their own offices. It’s done at home.” A teacher surnamed Zhang from a certain university in Beijing told the reporter, “Some administrative officials also use their power to compete with teachers for taking classes, so that teachers can’t complete the class hours. Every time an administrative official takes a class, they are paid according to the overtime. Great allowance."

The reporter's investigation found that many people have personal experience of the damage caused by the "official standard" to the style of study in colleges and universities.They believe that a major contradiction in the current college system is the contradiction between more and more resources pouring into colleges and universities and the backward resource allocation system, and the administrative-led "official standard" method is undoubtedly the root of this contradiction. In an interview, many people in the education field believed that the "official standard" is the biggest obstacle for Chinese universities to become world-class universities.This not only leads to the further deviation of the value concept and value orientation of colleges and universities, but also makes scholars impetuous and academically alienated, and impacts the independent academic spirit of colleges and universities. This has become a serious problem that college reform must face.

"Official standard" leads to unfair distribution of achievements and intensifies internal conflicts in colleges and universities.Due to the "official status" of colleges and universities, the distribution of benefits is seriously inclined to the administrative side. In some colleges and universities, there are often some academically mediocre people who rely on their special relationship with the school leaders. The titles of full professors vary widely.This has caused some front-line teachers who are conscientious, dedicated, and excellent in business to be treated unfairly in the distribution of benefits.

It is understood that in some colleges and universities, the monthly allowance of some professors is not as high as that of the director.As for the unreasonable one-size-fits-all quantitative management system, it has led to unfair distribution and income, further intensified internal conflicts in universities, and led to poor administrative management. "Official position" also led to the decline of academic spirit.Due to the influence of "official status", the academic evaluation mechanisms of many colleges and universities do not operate in accordance with academic rules.Including evaluation, inspection, comparison, project review, talent selection, etc., most of them are actually operated according to official rules.Anyone who does not operate according to official rules will be eliminated. The interviewees generally believed that the "official standard" not only greatly challenged the academic dignity of colleges and universities, led to the loss of academic spirit, but also directly jeopardized the establishment of students' correct outlook on life.A university teacher said to the reporter worriedly: "Once the spirit of the university is lost too much, the quality of university education will also change." Under the shadow of the "official standard" in colleges and universities, there have been many phenomena where laymen lead experts, or people who are not skilled in business guide those who are top-notch in business, which dampens the enthusiasm of teachers. "Official position" breeds all kinds of corruption, for example, indiscriminate evaluation of professional titles, indiscriminate issuance of diplomas, even selling and giving away diplomas, large-scale falsification in the quality evaluation of teaching and scientific research, money management, dredging relationships and other "academic skills" in project application , master and doctoral conferring rights and other purely academic affairs.As for the "academic transaction" similar to the "power-for-money transaction", it has been repeatedly banned. In addition, as colleges and universities have more and more autonomy in enrollment, use of funds, and appointment of cadres, the power of university leaders is also increasing. Individual leaders even monopolize power and slip into corruption. Liu Guanglin, the former president of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, and Wu Guomin, the former secretary of the party committee, have been investigated by the procuratorate for allegedly accepting bribes.Earlier, Li Zelin, former vice president of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, Chen Shaolan, former party secretary of China Three Gorges University, and Li Jinhe, former vice president of Hubei University, etc., were responsible for the crimes committed by those who took advantage of their long-term management of infrastructure, bidding, equipment and material procurement, and admissions. Convenience, seeking benefits for others, accepting bribes from parents of students, builders, and contractors, the amount ranging from tens of thousands to millions of yuan. Experts interviewed believe that colleges and universities have become a high-incidence area of ​​corruption, which is directly related to the "official standard" of colleges and universities. "Official position" also caused serious waste of human capital.Under the "official-based" management model in colleges and universities, in recent years, some college teachers have become vassals of the administrative authority, losing interest and motivation in teaching and educating people and doing a good job in scientific research, and some even simply find other jobs.Some accomplished experts, scholars, and professors couldn't resist the temptation of profit, and turned to seek various administrative positions, resulting in a large waste of professional and technical personnel resources. "Anyone will instinctively pursue the maximization of personal interests. If you are engaged in administration, you will have greater benefits than engaging in scientific research. Why not pursue administration and give up academics?" A teacher from a university in Beijing told the reporter a true story: There was a A senior professor who participated in the national 863 science and technology project was transferred from the Northeast to a university in Beijing. He felt that there was no way out as a professor. He participated in the competition for the director of the logistics department of the school for the first time and was unsuccessful.Later, he participated in the competition for the deputy director of the school's security department, but he was still unsuccessful.According to other teachers in the school: "I have to continue to be a professor very disappointed." In an interview, many people in the educational circles believed that the most important thing for the development of Chinese colleges and universities is to break the "official standard" and devote themselves to establishing a teacher-oriented and academic-oriented modern university system in colleges and universities, balancing administrative power and Academic power forms a good academic environment and academic ecology. "The key to evaluating a school is its ability to cultivate talents and academic research level, not which administrative level it belongs to." Wu Zhengde, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is very puzzled by the practice of dividing universities by administrative level. He believes, " Our country advocates a talent-based country, and policy makers should study what measures to use to cultivate, manage, evaluate, and encourage talents. First of all, the idea of ​​'officialism' should be driven out of the campus." During the interview process, many interviewees believed that in order to solve the problem of "official status" in colleges and universities, three relationships must be properly handled first.First of all, handle the relationship between the education administration department and colleges and universities.According to the Higher Education Law, universities have autonomy in running schools, including the establishment of disciplines and majors, the organization of teaching activities, scientific research, and enrollment.But now the power of many colleges and universities is overstepped by the administrative department of education, and colleges and universities have very little autonomy in running schools. Secondly, cancel the administrative level of universities and gradually realize the professionalization of university presidents.In the case that the party secretary and deputy secretary of the school are appointed by the superior in accordance with the relevant regulations, the president of the university can be selected through competition, and the vice president can compete for posts on the basis of the president's nomination, gradually realizing the professionalization of the university president. Third, properly handle the issues of administrative power and academic power within universities.The four main standards of modern universities are "professional governance, professorial governance, academic freedom, and student self-management." From these four aspects, there is still a big gap between Chinese universities.To solve this problem, the key is to weaken the administrative power and strengthen the academic power, so that the administrative power becomes a service in a real sense rather than an interference to academics. In an interview with reporters, Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, believed that in order to solve the problem of "official status" in colleges and universities, it is necessary to govern the school democratically according to law.All decisions made by colleges and universities must go through democratized and scientific procedures. They must attach great importance to the opinions and suggestions of teachers, students and staff, and use these opinions and suggestions as an important basis for decision-making and deployment.At the same time strengthen service awareness.The essence of service and management in colleges and universities is "people-oriented" and "teaching first". The administrative system should emphasize service first and management second. Qi Shanhong believes that the professor committee should become a democratic supervisory organization, and the principal should report to the professor committee every year. The opinions of the professors should not just be ignored and ignored; The basis for work performance and rewards; in addition, the benefit distribution system must be adjusted and optimized.In terms of systems, policies and mechanisms, especially in the distribution of benefits, colleges and universities must give preference to front-line teachers to ensure that the income of teachers who do well in teaching and research is not lower than that of administrative leaders.Among all the measures, the most critical is to what extent the professors' democratic participation rights are respected and implemented. In fact, to break the "official standard" of colleges and universities, it is not simply to deny the current administrative system, but to construct a scientific college management system according to the principles of scientific management.Establish professor committees in colleges and universities, and use professor committees as the decision-making bodies of colleges to realize collective decision-making and avoid the situation dominated by administrative personnel.In this way, decisions based on equal exchanges and democratic consultation will often be more scientific. Of course, according to the current national conditions, the real reform of the university system does not depend entirely on the university itself, it also depends on the reform of the national administrative system.Observing from this point, there is still a long way to go to re-establish the independent academic spirit of the current colleges and universities and return from the "official standard" to the "study standard".