Guangzhou University, October 8, 2012:Professor Yu Jianshe, President of GU, gets his paperProfessionalism of University Heads Is Not De-academicpublished onChina Education News. President Yu argues in his paper that the heads of university also need to take time of their busy administrative schedule to conduct academic research as scholars.
According to President Yu, universities and colleges are the cradle to spread knowledge, stimulate innovation and apply knowledge into real practice, so they have the mission to educate students, conduct researches, serve the community and nurture culture among which academic research is on the top of universities priority. President Yu quotes studies, statistics, and examples from national and international academic circles to support his argument, which makes his paper convincing and inspiring.
President Yu continues to propose three pieces of suggestion to the administrative role of university heads, namely being a commander-in-chief instead of working on everything, assigning tasks to other colleagues while having the central work under control, and being attentive to various comments and opinions from others. And he lives up to his suggestion as he strikes a balance between his administrative and academic careers. He makes good use of his spare time to conduct academic projects which result in great progress and achievement in his specialties. And he emphasizes that heads of universities should not seek for individual benefits or claim leadership of any academic projects that are conducted collectively or not within their research areas. Otherwise it could lead to negative consequences, such as unfairness and manipulation of power.
The paper concludes by admitting that the choices made by university heads should be respected, be they want to pursue academic research while working on administration or not.
The Chinese academic community thinks highly of President Yu’s paper and forwards it to many national and regional web-pages and media on education.
Written by:Gao Liangquan
Translated by: Ye Aiyun
Chinese