Development and Promotion
of the Faculty Teams in the Schools /
Departments of Computer Science
of the Universities in China
Professor Xu Xiaofei
School of Computer Science and Technology
Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin 150001, China
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit
May 23,2006, Beijing,China
Development and Promotion of the Faculty
Teams in the Schools/Departments of Computer
Science of the Universities in China

Introduction of HIT-SCST

Roles of the Faculty Members in the Universities





Development Phases of the Faculty Members in the
Universities in China
Current Status and Challenge of the Faculty Members in the
Schools/Developments of Computer Science (SCS) of the
Universities in China
Approach to Develop and to Promote the Faculty Teams in
the SCS of the Universities in China
About the Development of the Faculty Teams in the Software
Schools of the Universities in China
Conclusion
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin
 Schools
17
Weihai
 Full Time Faculty (Teachers)
2,957
Academicians (CAS/CAE)
19
Doctorial Supervisors
594
Professors
737
Associate Professors
1,115
 Full Time Students
37,254
Doctoral Students
3,494
Master Students
9,216
Undergraduate Students
24,544
Shenzhen
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Research Institute of Computer
Science and Technology
National Computer Information
Content Security Key Laboratory
Associate Professors:
Students:
National Key Laboratory of
Computer Interface Technology
Research Center of Intelligent
Interface of Human-Computers
Doctoral Students:
Master Students:
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Under-Graduate Students:
Professors:
56
1842
310
478
1054
Development Center of New
Technology of Computers
Research Divisions
Lab. Of Computer Software
Doctoral Supervisors:
Lab. Of Computer Hardware
And Engineering
39
Teaching and Res. Division of
Computer Hardware Fundamental
Teaching and Res. Division of
Computer Software Fundamental
Teaching and Res. Division of
Computer Language Fundamental
Faculty
Members:
Dept. of Computer
Science
Astronavigation Computing
Research Center of
of Pattern
Center
Research
Control
Intelligent
Recognition and Inf. Processing
Syncretizing
Information
Databases
Center of
Research
Intelligent Robot Technology
of
Research Center
Retrieval
Information
Wearable Computing
Center of Security
Research
Image Processing
of Computer Systems
Research Center of
Engineering
Knowledge
Software Engineering
Technology
Bio-Informatics
Research Center of
Research Center of
Technology
Language
Computing
Parallel
Research Center of Intelligent
Enterprises
Computing
Systems
Operatingfor
Fault-Tolerant Computing
School of Computer Science and Technology
Harbin Institute of Technology
School of Computer Science
and Technology
Dept. of
Computer Fundamental
149
29+7
The Roles of the Faculty Members
in the Key Universities

Discipline Development

Research and Development

Teaching and Supervising Students

Technique Transfer

Academic Exchange and Communication

Universities/Schools Administration
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
The Development Phases of the Faculty in
the SCS of the Key Universities in China





Early P. R. C. Time (1950s-60s): There were first generation of faculty
members with study experience in USA, UDSSR and Europe.
Cultural Revolution Time (1960s-70s): With the unusual time of
education, the faculty members had less research experience.
Early Opening Time (1980s): The new faculty members with doctor or
master degree were recruited; And large number of faculty members had
been dispatched to USA, Europe and Japan for learning new technology.
IT Bubble Time (1990s): It was difficult for universities to get the good
quality faculty members, because most of good students came to IT
companies with high salary.
New Century Time (2000s): With the improvement of the treatment in
universities, new generation faculty members with good quality, doctor
degree and international study experience are recruited.
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Current Status and Challenge of the Faculty
Teams in the Schools/Developments of Computer
Science of the Key Universities in China

Current Status of the Faculty Teams in SCS

Large sized and team-organized faculty members

Incrementally improved quality of faculty teams

More and more young professors and faculty members

Increased proportion of the Ph.D. in faculty teams




Increased proportion of the staff with international experience
in faculty teams
Big pressure of R&D and teaching
Altiplano without high pinnacle
Two-end effect –

High quality staff vs. low quality staff

Hard worked staff vs. easy worked staff
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Current Status and Challenge of the Faculty
Members in the Schools/Developments of
Computer Science of the Universities in China

Problems and Challenge of the Faculty Teams in SCS

Difficulty in attracting and recruiting the high-quality faculty
members

Difficult to wash out the low-quality faculty members

Lack of outstanding academic leaders (high pinnacle)

Lack of innovation and fundamental research work

Multi-dimensions metrics and constraints on faculty members

Overloading of the leading professors and 20-80 effect

Too much time spent for getting than doing R&D projects

Less time for researching the methods of teaching

Lack of communication with world class leading universities and
professors
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Approach to Develop and to Promote the Faculty
Teams in the SCS of the Universities in China

To attract and to recruit the high-quality faculty
members



To improve work condition and life treatment in the
universities for attracting the best Ph.D. students
To recruit more fresh doctors, post-doctors or Chinese
staff from the international leading universities
To promote the quality of the faculty members



To promote the degree of staff members
To dispatch staff members to the international leading
universities/institutions
To create platforms or channels for faculty members to
increase their impact
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Approach to Develop and to Promote the Faculty
Teams in the SCS of the Universities in China

To let faculty members focus on research and teaching


To make increased requirement for faculty members



To provide more time and more chance for faculty members
to do research and teaching work
Regular and increased evaluation or review on research and
teaching work of faculty members
To keep the work pressure on faculty members
To invite famous professor to be part time / visiting
professorship

In order to strengthen the faculty teams, the famous
professors from or out of China are invited as part time /
visiting professorship and to supervise the graduate students
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Approach to Develop and to Promote the
Faculty Teams in the SCST of HIT

High treatment and strict recruitment



The professoriate is responsible for recruiting new staff and
promoting faculty members
More freedom and promotion chance



The work condition and life treatment are obviously improved for
attracting the best doctors in and out of China in recent years
The staff have more choice for their research interests and teaching
work
The young staff have more and more chance to promote their degree
or research/teaching experience in HIT and abroad
Team organization and cooperation


Most of faculty members are well organized in the teams of the
research centers in the school
The faculty members collaborated each other for integrated projects
and seminars
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Approach to Develop and to Promote the
Faculty Teams in the SCST of HIT

Regular evaluation and high pressure




The increased requirement and the regular evaluation makes
the big pressure on faculty members
Gradually washing out the low-quality faculty members
In HIT-SCST, ‘four one’ for professor is required: each
professor has one international journal paper per year, one
NSF project in hand, at least one international partner, and
one office.
International collaboration


The famous professors from or out of China are invited as
part-time or guest professorship
The international R&D projects and joint laboratories are
emphasized
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
About the Development of the Faculty Teams in
the Software Schools of the Universities in China

The Task of the National Pilot Schools of Software




International collaborative education for enhancing the
competency of students
The features of the faculty members in the software schools

Industrial experience and international experience

Practice oriented teaching and learning
Industrial guest lecturers/supervisors


Industry-oriented education for software professionals
To invite the IT industrial people as guest lecturers/supervisors
International part-time / visiting lecturers/professors

To invite industrialists and professors from USA, Europe and
other countries, as part-time or visiting lecturers/professors
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Conclusion





The faculty members play the most important role in the
universities.
In recent years, the quality of faculty members in the schools /
departments of computer science of the universities in China has
been much improved.
There are still big challenge of development of faculty members in
the key universities in China ---- Altiplano without high pinnacle.
In order to develop and to promote the faculty teams in the SCS of
the universities in China, the recruitment of high-quality faculty
members and increased requirement are necessary.
The international collaboration and the collaboration with IT
industry are very important to enhance the competency of the
faculty members in the schools / departments of computer science
of the key universities in China.
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit, May 23,2006, Beijing, China
US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit
May 23,2006, Beijing, China
Development and Promotion of the Faculty Teams
in the Schools / Departments of Computer Science
of the Universities in China
Professor Xu Xiaofei
School of Computer Science and Technology
Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin 150001, China