Teaching versus research

Education authorities have to reform their promotional, payment and research funding systems to help college teachers strike the right balance between teaching and research, says an article in Xi'an Daily. Excerpts:

In an online posting, a university teacher from Sichuan province has said that many college teachers do not attach importance to teaching students, and colleges are becoming more and more like government departments with the teachers busy applying for research funds.

What the Sichuan teacher has said is not an isolated case. On one hand, education authorities have stipulated that college teachers aspiring for a professor's post have to have published works like papers or books on their subjects and the experience of having participated in provincial - or national-level government research.