Foreign Professors in China
China is recruiting foreign professors to teach at their universities under a new program called “Thousand Foreign Experts”, which is designed to attract about 1,000 foreign professors to help improve its academic research and training. Under this program, foreign professors will receive about $160,000 dollars per year in salary and also some living incentives. So far, it has already attracted about 200 professors from countries like the United States, Japan and Germany.
While there were some foreign professors teaching in Chinese universities, mostly at top schools like PekingUniversity and TsinghuaUniversity, the government expects the program to accelerate the number of foreign professors to join other universities as well. With fewer positions and research funding available in Foreign universities in contrast with Chinese universities are all well-funded by the government and able to offer foreigners lucrative packages, China's plan can draw many Foreign professors to relocate there.
As China economy is growing, it needs a lot of middle level managers and scientists to help lift its global competitiveness. In the past years, most Chinese companies are losing money due to mismanagement and cannot compete globally without government help. A government official admitted: “We do not know how to do business in a global economy. We made many bad choices as we do not know how to compete globally. We must change the way we think as the old way of doing business do not work anymore. We must start with a completely new education and new thinking.” Despite several attempts and a lot of money to improve its education, China has not improve much. A government study revealed that Chinese professors who were trained in China and could not provide the skills needed to a generation of young students growing up with the internet and have access to all types of information. A student at a top university complained: “The professors are still expecting us to sit quietly and listen to their boring lectures. We cannot discuss anything or disagree with the professors as it is disrespect. They teach from books that were written twenty years ago when today technology is changing every month. They talk about the past but know nothing of the future. There is not much that we can learn from them but because they are still controlling our destinies via annual national exams so they still have power over us. If we do not memorize what they taught, we cannot pass exams even what they put on exams are already obsolete.” Another student said: “Most schools do not want to change because they are afraid of losing control of their positions. They do not want to hire young professors who are more progressive or adopt new way of teaching. They only want to preserve their prestigious positions and cling to their past because they have nothing to offer and we all suffer because of this archaic system.”
As more foreign companies are moving to China, there is a critical shortage of people who can speak English. Without English speaking workers, many foreign companies have to bring in their own people instead of hiring local people. One Chinese government officer said: “We could get more benefits if we have enough workers who can communicate in English. The limitation of language skill is the number one problem that we are facing today.” Since state schools are still slow to change and be restricted by certain policies, more private universities are opening in China. These universities are increasingly competing with one another to improve their status. The higher status, the more students they can recruit so having foreign curriculum programs and employing foreign professors are the key strategy to help recruit top students and get recognition from the public. Today in China, top private schools are school that use training programs from U.S universities and completely teach in English by foreign professors. A student said: “It is like to go to a foreign university; our program is from the U.S and taught by U.S professors in English. We have to use English in school, in the beginning we feel very uncomfortable but after few months, we love it. It helps us to get better job and better salary, especially to get job with foreign companies then travel to foreign places.” Today, schools that taught completely in English are attracting more students but it also created a lot of resentments from local schools. A local professor said: “It is a fashion to go to English school and act like foreigners. You cannot change your skin, you cannot change your accent, and you cannot forget who you are. I think English schools like any fashion, it will fade away soon.” Regardless of the sentiment, schools teaching in English are still draw in more students, making more money as they make it easier for their students to connect with the international community.
A government official said: “With globalization, we want our people to do more business with the world so learning English is the right thing to do. Nothing is better than study with English speaking professors. As more students are taught in English, their works can be done in English that will help our schools get international recognition. We prefer to adopt programs from highly developed Foreign countries, especially the U.S, Germany and Canada. We are interested in attracting professors who specialized in science, technology, engineering and mathematics which can lift our economic growth through innovation.”
One of the best known professors who came to China recently is the French virologist Luc Montagnier, who received the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his discovery of H.I.V. He joined ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity in 2010, where he set up a research institute. In an interview with the newspapers, Mr. Montagnier, who is 78, explained that he was no longer able to work at university in France because of the country's retirement laws. He said: “They told me that I am too old to teach and forced me to retire and stay home. I think I can do more so I am looking for place that can utilize my talents” Of course, Chinese university is “interested in the status and publicity” of such “academia superstars” who can bring in their knowledge and their reputation.
Today higher education and academic research are going through a phase of rapid internationalization where universities are sharing valuable knowledge with each others. More and more universities are exchanging curriculum, training programs and professors than ever before. The idea is when all universities share a similar training programs and standardize the testing to qualify students, students can work anywhere they want in this globalized world.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
