The Impact of Tenure Track Personnel System on Higher Education in China

Abstract

The publications in international journals are widely perceived to be the crucial indicator in global ranking tables. To increase China’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy, the tenure track system is introduced in Chinese elite universities, aiming to realize the transition from key universities from worldclass universities. However, the introduction of tenure track system arises some potential influence in practice which is opposite from initial expectation. In this project, the literature review method is used to examine the effectiveness of tenure track system and explore the impacts of tenure track system on higher education. The findings are as follows. Firstly, the tenure track system creates publish-or-perish atmosphere among young faculty members, Under the pressure to publish, young faculty members focus more on the output of academic paper regardless of the quality of academic research. Secondly, as the tenure track system links the promotion opportunity with academic research output, young faculty members are forced to give up the teaching activity, devoting mostly of their time on academic output. Finally, the tenure track system causes administrative work overloads, which breaks the balance between work and personal lives.