Students more important than papers

AN OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF HIGHER EDUCATION at the Ministry of Education has said the ministry will issue a new regulation, according to which professors and associate professors will be expelled from the teaching profession if they do not teach undergraduates for three successive years. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Teaching students is the main responsibility of professors. Yet in reality, it seems that many professors have forgotten that this is their role. Instead, they are busy doing research, attending seminars, writing academic papers, and traveling from one city to another to appear on TV shows.

That's why the new regulation has been so warmly welcomed. By stressing the job responsibility of professors is to teach students, the new regulation is expected to ensure that professors focus first and foremost on teaching students.