Academic ranks in China

Academic ranks in China are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia.

Overview

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Most universities in the People's Republic of China adopt a four-level academic rank system (Senior rank, Vice-Senior rank, Medium rank, and Junior rank), i.e. Professor, Associate professor, Lecturer, and Assistant lecturer.[1] More recently, some top universities (e.g. Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University) also added the American-style title of assistant professor, typically granted to tenure-track positions, with the expectation that they will be promoted to Associate professor (tenured or untenured) and then full professor (tenured) within the academic tenure system.[citation needed]

Most PhD graduates will initially be appointed at the lecturer level and receive the qualification to be promoted to associate professorship after several years of teaching. However, people holding a doctorate from Western universities and with some working experience overseas will occasionally be appointed at a higher level, in exceptional cases at the full professor level directly.[citation needed] Mostly, each individuate institute has only one principal rank (e.g. dean of a college, president of a university) and multiple deputy ranks.

Four-level academic rank in different series (Senior rank, Vice-Senior rank, Medium rank, and Junior rank)

Professor series

Engineer series

Researcher series

Academic trainee
Honorary titles
  • Academician (院士), a person who was nominated as a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering or/and Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Emeritus Professor (退休教授)
  • Honorary Professor (名誉教授), usually awarded to academics with important social contributions
  • Distinguished Professor (特聘教授), usually awarded to academics with a recognized achievement in research
  • Guest professor, or commonly visiting professor (客座教授), usually awarded to distinguished visiting scholars
Administrative ranks
  • Secretary of the CPC Committee (党委书记), similar to Chancellor, who usually does not take administrative responsibilities
  • Associate Secretary of the CPC Committee (党委副书记), similar to Vice-Chancellor; the 1st order Associate Secretary is usually appointed President, with other Associate Secretaries being the Vice-President
  • President (校长), taking the major decision for academic and administrative affairs, assisted by Vice-Presidents
  • Vice-president (副校长), usually taking the responsibility of a certain area, e.g. academic, administrative, facilities, finance, etc.
  • Dean (院长/所长)
  • Deputy dean or associate dean (副院长/副所长) of schools and faculties
  • Director of research centre (部长/主任) and director of academic department (系主任)

References

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  1. ^ "人事部 教育部关于印发高等学校、义务教育学校、中等职业学校等教育事业单位岗位设置管理的三个指导意见的通知 - 中华人民共和国教育部政府门户网站".