Chapter 29 Chapter 27 Part-time jobs in colleges "chasing" officials

Whether incumbent party and government officials take part-time jobs in colleges and universities violates the principle of fair competition in the market economy and whether it will affect the new social unfair distribution. On December 14, 2009, a reporter browsed the Tsinghua University news website and discovered that in just one month in November, three incumbent party and government officials were successively hired by Tsinghua University as part-time professors. It is understood that among the three hired officials, Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Chen Gang, deputy mayor of Beijing, and Liu Yingying, deputy secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, except Liu Yingying, the other two are Tsinghua alumni.

In recent years, it has become increasingly common for incumbent party and government officials to work part-time in colleges and universities.In particular, some party and government officials go to well-known colleges and universities to serve as deans and other positions, and they also serve as professors or doctoral supervisors in many colleges and universities.For this reason, large and small party and government officials in some places also followed suit and went to colleges and universities to work part-time. Many interviewees believe that current party and government officials are keen to take part-time jobs in colleges and universities, which seems to strengthen the phenomenon of "official status" in colleges and universities. It is related to the principle of fair competition in the market economy, and it is also related to the new problem of unfair social distribution, which has affected college teaching. The healthy development of scientific research and academic spirit should be highly valued.

Since the 1990s, as some national ministries and commissions have jointly run schools with their universities, higher education has entered a stage of great development, and the number of part-time officials in universities has gradually increased, and they have become a special group. In 2009 alone, in addition to the above, many incumbent party and government officials were hired as part-time jobs in universities—on November 18, Tian Lipu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office, was hired as a part-time professor at Renmin University of China; Chairman Li Wuwei was hired as a part-time professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology; on February 26, Li Shouxin, director of the Development Planning Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, was hired as a part-time professor of Zhejiang University...

Previously, incumbent party and government officials took part-time jobs in colleges and universities, and some of them once attracted social attention. For example, on June 23, 2004, Qiu Xiaohua, then deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, was hired by Shanxi University of Finance and Economics as a part-time professor. On January 23, 2003, former Vice Minister of Finance Jin Liqun accepted the appointment of Henan University as a visiting professor and doctoral supervisor. It is understood that there are mainly two types of party and government officials who work part-time in colleges and universities: the first category is that they originally taught and held leadership positions in colleges and universities, but after transferring to leadership positions in party and government organs, they still work part-time in colleges and universities; Government agencies, employed part-time in colleges and universities.

From the analysis of relevant reports from various places in the past, the second type of situation is more common.Some places even require officials to work part-time in colleges and universities in the form of documents.A few days ago, Guangdong Province implemented the "100 Visiting Professor System", and 100 bureau chiefs and division chiefs were selected to serve as part-time visiting professors in various colleges and universities in the province. Information from multiple sources shows that most university leaders are very supportive of officials with academic achievements taking part-time jobs in universities.One of their important reasons is that through the teaching of these party and government officials, students can get more experience from practical work.

During the interview, the reporter contacted several local party and government officials who worked part-time in colleges and universities, and their answers to reporters were more cautious. It was the same as most officials’ statements at the appointment ceremony—it is an honor to be employed in a college, and it is also an honor. A kind of responsibility, I will contribute to the development of colleges and universities. However, the reporter visited and found that, for officials to work part-time in colleges and universities, the interviewees are more questioning and criticizing.They generally believe that the current party and government officials, as figures in public power, hold power and resources, and taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities can easily lead to "exchange of interests" with colleges and universities.

"Incumbent party and government officials who work part-time in colleges and universities will inevitably give people a feeling of not doing their job properly." Yin Yungong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with reporters, "Most of these part-time officials are well-known, and inviting them to work part-time can also improve the reputation of colleges and universities, especially ordinary colleges and universities. This is also the main reason why colleges and universities are keen to hire officials for part-time jobs.” Regarding the "hidden rules" during this period, Professor Zhang Ming from the Department of Political Science at Renmin University of China once stated clearly: "The matter of ministers, mayors, and secretaries serving as part-time professors, and even leading doctoral students, is in the ascendant. What the school sees, This is exactly what power in the hands of officials can bring to schools."

"Part-time job of party and government officials in colleges and universities can not only get rich remuneration, but also win the reputation and status of 'scholar officials'." Professor Yang Fan of the Business School of China University of Political Science and Law told reporters, "This kind of benefit acquisition is two-way, the party Political officials work part-time in colleges and universities, and colleges and universities are bound to use their power and resources to seek greater benefits. Of course, this is also some accumulation of resources for college leaders to promote their careers in the future.”

According to reports, some colleges and universities that have part-time party and government officials have indeed obtained a lot of administrative resources. For example, provincial mayors or standing committee members may provide special discounts in land acquisition and public facilities; It is convenient in terms of human, financial, and material indicators, as well as approval and handling; if it is a financial official, it may allocate a little more education funds. Many interviewees pointed out that after the current party and government officials work part-time in colleges and universities, they may take advantage of their own convenience, or part-time lectures, or engage in research projects, or serve as a master's and doctoral supervisor, so as to "justifiably" get rich remuneration. "Some party and government officials work part-time in colleges and universities for free, but such cases are rare."

Many insiders revealed to reporters that some officials who work part-time in colleges and universities also come for the reputation and status of "scholar officials", because once they become "Confucian officials", they will not only gain weight in the minds of their superiors, If you are a part-time master's or doctoral supervisor, you can also train and promote a group of "disciples" to reserve more network resources for your "circle". In the opinion of many interviewees, incumbent party and government officials who take part-time jobs in universities will directly intensify unequal competition within universities and between universities because they hold public power resources.

The reporter's investigation found that some college teachers also complained about officials taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities. "Incumbent party and government officials already have high salaries, and then working part-time in colleges and universities to obtain generous remuneration will easily lead to new social injustices." Xiao Zhang, a young teacher who has just started working in a college in Beijing, believes. "For colleges and universities, they compete on an equal footing based on their respective academic levels and faculty strength to obtain resources for the development of colleges and universities." A teacher from a college in Beijing, who did not want to be named, told reporters, "After officials work part-time in colleges and universities, the school generally It will use its resources and strength to seek more benefits, thus forming an unfair competition between universities with part-time officials and universities without part-time officials.” During the interview process, the interviewees also generally believed that the negative impact of incumbent party and government officials taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities would be to intensify unequal competition in colleges and universities, interfere with the normal working order of party and government agencies, and be detrimental to the improvement of the quality of teaching and scientific research in colleges and universities . "The incumbent party and government officials are already shouldering important transactional tasks, which require a lot of time and energy to deal with, and no more energy is devoted to teaching, which affects the improvement of the quality of teaching and scientific research in colleges and universities." Yang Fan believes, "Officials teach students , it would be more practical to deal with a few issues of concern to the masses.” According to insiders, my country’s colleges and universities employ part-time officials. Except for some colleges and universities that strictly examine their academic background, many colleges and universities employ part-time officials. They only need to study the party committee and administration of the school, obtain the consent of the officials themselves, and then hold an appointment ceremony. program. When the reporter interviewed some colleges and universities in Beijing, many graduate students reported that some party and government officials who work part-time in colleges and universities are busy with routine work all day long, and it is rare to meet with students all year round. When defending, I was in a hurry to go into battle, and I often couldn't even match the name and person of the graduate student I supervised. In addition, some incumbent officials who work part-time in colleges and universities often go to school, and they often hug each other. This kind of officialdom habit has a negative impact on the ivory tower of academics. "When many younger juniors and juniors apply for postgraduate entrance examinations, what they are most interested in is the supervisor's official position, not the professional level of the supervisor." Xiao Zhang, who has just graduated from Peking University and has just started working in an institution, believes, "If the supervisor is a high-ranking official , after graduation, it is not difficult to find a good job with the relationship of a mentor.” Behind the discussion about the phenomenon of incumbent officials taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities is the absence of current laws and regulations in our country or the existence of regulatory gaps.Today, when the country is governed by law and anti-corruption is advocated, the situation of in-service party and government officials working part-time in colleges and universities urgently needs to be regulated. Article 42 of the Civil Servant Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into effect on January 1, 2006, stipulates: "Civil servants who need to work part-time outside the agency due to work needs to be approved by the relevant agency and are not allowed to receive part-time remuneration." February 2008 The "Regulations on the Appointment, Removal, and Promotion of Civil Servants (Trial)" announced on the 29th reiterated this provision again. But unfortunately, the "job needs" in these regulations has opened a small door of the system. Although it is stipulated that officials are not allowed to receive remuneration for part-time jobs, they lack specific and operable implementation rules, such as what standards are considered part-time jobs for civil servants, How to deal with it if it is found out, and so on. "The current regulations on part-time jobs for officials are just a vague policy framework, which gives some officials an opportunity." Yang Fan suggested, "The state should prohibit party and government officials from taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities, and further improve and refine relevant laws and regulations. , so that it can actually be implemented.” When talking about how to regulate the part-time job of party and government officials in colleges and universities, Yin Yungong said: "The law should be strictly enforced. supervision.Once an official is found to have violated the regulations, not only must it be announced to the public, but also severe political and party discipline punishments must be given to warn officials to be faithful to their jobs. "Officials should pay attention to their social influence and appear in the right place at the right time." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, said bluntly in an interview with reporters, "The current senior officials should set an example and resign from their part-time jobs in universities voluntarily. And for those officials who have real talents and real learning, and are really interested in education, after they have completely retired or retired, they can still use their spare time to go to colleges and universities after passing strict academic background checks, but they still need to be treated with caution. Because people retire, they can The relationship resources are still there, and the people promoted by me are still in their posts." It is understood that in many developed countries, incumbent government officials are also strictly prohibited from taking part-time jobs in colleges and universities. They can only work in colleges and universities after resigning from office, and the review of their academic background is also quite strict.On the contrary, official position itself is not an important condition.For example, Secretary of the Treasury Summers during the Clinton administration could become the president of Harvard University, but Clinton himself lost the election, and former Vice President Al Gore was only an ordinary professor at Columbia University. Many interviewees believe that under the current university system, it is reasonable to prohibit incumbent party and government officials from taking part-time jobs in universities.Of course, the fundamental problem lies in reforming the current university system, allowing public power to gradually withdraw in order to maintain academic independence, so that universities can truly rely on strength rather than public power to obtain resources.