Through experiencing and reviewing multiple-country endeavors in academic profession study and participating in a new project regarding the academic profession in Asia, the author pinpoints and anticipates the shortcomings of study alone or dominantly questionnaire-based and ignoring the broader social context. The author proposes a new…

The cognitive interview method was applied to evaluate survey questions translated and adapted from a US-based college student survey instrument. This paper draws data from cognitive interviews with 45 undergraduate students in China and explores the different meanings they attribute to the term "college teacher." Students understood…

Guided by cultural border crossing and teacher identity development theories, this case study explores the bumpy process of a junior Chinese faculty member's border crossing into the U.S. teaching culture and analyzes the challenges, coping strategies, and consequences of his border crossing on teaching and teacher identity development. The…

Along with the "massification" of higher education in China since the late 1990s, the issue of quality and excellence appeared at the top of China's higher education agenda. Since faculty evaluation of teaching is one of the major approaches adopted by China's higher education sector to pursue quality and excellence, it is valuable to examine the…

Research on work life and job satisfaction of university professors is becoming an important research issue in the field of higher education. This study used questionnaires administered to 1 770 teachers from different levels, types, and academic fields of Chinese universities to investigate job satisfaction among university professors and the…

This study intends to gain an understanding of the sources of stress among women academics in research universities of China. Studies have shown that, compared with their male counterparts, women report higher level of stress in work/family conflicts, gender barriers and career development. Based on the results of this study, the following…

Many societies view the world as composed of two distinct and complementary spheres: the female (domestic) sphere and the male (public) sphere. Because science was part of the male sphere, women were inhibited from pursuing a career in scientific research. However, the more limited female sphere often found within university departments of home…

To summarize the widely dispersed literature concerning Chinese teachers' mental status, the present paper conducted a quantitative research synthesis with a focus on the current situation and development in teachers' mental disorders. On one hand, the results demonstrated that many critical problems existed in the exploration of this issue, such…

Through a quantitative analysis on the school conditions of 71 key universities in the light of some measurable indicators, this paper concludes that all these universities have positively adapted themselves to the massification and diversification of higher education. Suggestions are as follows: (1) the construction of the quality assurance…

Developing a professional ethics is crucial towards amassing the ranks of high-quality teachers, which contributes to the improvement of national education. This study bases its analysis on the survey of humanistic qualities of Chinese citizens. 3348 teachers at three different levels from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of…

This paper examines the changing status of women faculty through an analysis of statistics on China's universities from 1994 to 2004. This paper first presents the trend of a drastic increase in women faculty members in recent years. Further details on the academic ranks of women faculty, their age and highest degrees obtained are also presented.…

Part-time faculty has become an important labor force in Chinese colleges and universities. The number of them has risen rapidly and its structure varies in different types of higher education institutes (HEIs), which results from integration of the social motivation and the inner motivation of schools' reform. From the institutional point of…

Having experienced three stages of "preliminary establishment", "rapid and comprehensive development" and "steady development" for twenty years, China's postdoctoral system is moving towards a new one, the stage of "quality improvement and innovation development." Remarkable achievements in the system include cultivating talented personnel,…

As an empirical study based on undergraduate ratings of 2364 teachers lecturing in different courses during four semesters in Beijing Normal University, this paper studies the relationship between teaching effectiveness and research productivity. The results show that both of them are positively correlated, that is to say, teaching effectiveness…

As an empirical study based on multiple linear regression analysis of the investigation data, this paper studies the communication between teachers and students in universities. It reveals that the interaction between university teachers and students promotes the personal development of college students. For some reason, however, a rather low…