The School highlights 4 priorities for its faculty development strategy: enhancing faculty’s academic and research capabilities; improving faculty’s teaching proficiency; heightening faculty’s international vision and exchange competence; strengthening faculty’s corporate links. The School has measures for addressing each of these 4 priorities:
Enhancing faculty’s academic and research capabilities. The School offers various opportunities to faculty with outstanding research achievements. For example, they may apply for the national ‘Baiqianwan Talent Project’, the MOE-supported ‘Programme for New (Trans-) Century Excellent Talents in Universities’, or Fujian’s ‘Qianbaishi Talent Project’ for higher education institutions. SMXMU’s Funding Policy of Faculty Attendance at National and International Conferences provides for faculty to attend high profile national and international conferences once each year; outstanding junior faculty are exempt from this annual constraint on attendance of high profile conferences. In addition, the SMXMU Reward Policy for Faculty Publications in Top-Tier International Journals provides for generous incentives for publications in influential domestic and international journals. In addition, the School is committed to building various channels and platforms for exchange and cooperation by hosting and undertaking high-level national and international academic conferences and workshops. The School maintains close contact with various academic organisations and sends faculty members to attend their conferences and take on administrative posts. For example, since the Second Council of the Accounting Society of China (ASC), professors from the School’s Accounting Department have held the office of deputy director. Professor LI, Jianfa is the current deputy director, Professors HUANG, Shizhong, as members of the China Accounting Standards Committee (CASC), have long been involved in setting China’s recognised accounting standards. The School has also supported activities of the Association of Modern Management, China (AMMC). Professor WU, Shinong has been AMMC’s Vice Chairman and the director of the Committee for Accounting and Finance, and Professor SHEN, Yifeng has served as the AMMC’s deputy director of the Committee for Accounting and Finance, as well as deputy director of Corporate Governance Committee and Case Study Committee.
Improving faculty’s teaching proficiency. SMXMU improves faculty’s teaching skills through various means, the most important being a fund for faculty’s attendance at teaching workshops and case teaching training. Over the last 5 years, SMXMU sent over 120 person-times to attend teaching workshops or case training. SMXMU annually sends 5 to 8 faculty members for training at well-known business schools; to date, 79 faculty have trained abroad. The School also organises teaching contests for young faculty, with rewards for the winners.
Heightening faculty’s international vision and exchange competence. Faculty members may apply for international academic exchange programmes supported by a government, university, or the School, including Scholarship Programme for Visiting Scholars, Institute of National Academics, UK; Scholarship Programme for Young Scholars, Waseda University, Japan; Sino-France Programme Caiyuanpei; South Korean Governmental Scholarship Exchange Programme for Visiting Scholars; Harvard-Yenching Institute Programme; Freeman Fellows Programme, University of Illinois, US; Academic Exchange Programme, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; and Programme of Training Abroad for University Key Teachers, China Scholarship Council.
Reinforcing faculty’s connections with practice. The School maintains intimate ties with businesses and professional organisations through the ACCO, and the SCDC. Faculty are encouraged to actively participate in the activities of businesses and professional organisations, keep abreast of their fields’ latest developments, apply theory to business practice and use their expertise to contribute to society.
In keeping with School strategy, student size and distribution of faculty by subject specialties, the School Academic Affairs Committee maps out the faculty development plan and the annual recruitment plan for the departments and centres. The School Appointment Committee, composed of the dean, the 3 associate deans and the heads of the departments and centres, oversees faculty appointment. The Faculty Committee is responsible for faculty evaluation and promotion.
In light of its faculty development strategy, the School has drafted regulations on faculty evaluation and promotion that integrate the requirements of teaching and research, as well as take administrative service into account. Each faculty member is expected to fulfill the School’s explicit workload. Although extra work is subsidised according to the School’s subsidy standard, excessively heavy workloads are discouraged given that XMU is a research-led university. Explicit and rigorous research performance standards were laid down in promotion regulations; application for promotion is allowed only when requirements for both teaching and research have been met. These regulations allow for a balance between the faculty’s teaching and research inputs. In addition, faculty with administrative duties enjoys a reduction in workload. The regulations on recruitment, appointment and evaluation provide institutional guarantees for faculty to address the School’s strategic objectives through concerted efforts.
In addition to institutional building, the School emphasises cultural building and a strong academic atmosphere by communicating the school values and enhancing faculty cohesion through involvement in various social functions and services. For example, at its annual year-end meeting, the School announces the Best Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Best Research Award and the Best Social Service Award. The School supports faculty in offering professional consulting or advisory services in their areas of expertise and in participating in social welfare activities, including donations of time, expertise or funds.
