For example, Li, Li, Li, Li, Li and Long Teng, academicians of China Academy of Engineering, respectively served as presidents of Central South University, Beihang University, South China University of Technology, Shandong University, Chongqing University and Beijing Institute of Technology; Another example is academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gong, Gong, Zhang Suojiang, Mao Junfa, who served as presidents of Central South University, Peking University, Anhui Normal University, Zhengzhou University, Henan University, Shandong First Medical University, Shenzhen University and Shandong Institute of Petrochemical Technology respectively.
For the competent departments and universities, the biggest consideration for appointing academicians as "chief officials" may be to enhance the influence of the school and improve the scientific research and teaching level of the school through the influence of the academician dean. And for some famous universities, this is also a "standard". Being an academician as a principal is more in line with their status and image, and is also conducive to serving the public. For example, after a top university "changed coaches", some netizens talked about the new president, saying that they are not even academicians, but even the president of such a prestigious school can be.
Academician has rich academic resources and strong research and teaching ability. Being in charge of colleges and universities is conducive to forming a good atmosphere of respecting academics and scientific research. Especially for some non-prestigious universities, the appointment of academician presidents can not only increase their reputation, but also promote the development level of a certain discipline.
In my opinion, "academicians running schools" will become a common phenomenon (in fact, it has already become a common phenomenon). One of the most important reasons is that schools all over the country are vigorously introducing high-level talents, and mining academician resources is one of the most important aspects. For example, Academician Li Yadong, Academician Xu Chunming and Academician Zhang Suojiang all returned to their hometown universities. Another example is Academician Huang Ru, who returned to his alma mater.
Of course, this universality is relatively more common than in previous years (in the first half of 2022, there were 9 academicians as presidents of colleges and universities, more than in the whole year of 20021), and many colleges and universities continued the policy of hiring academicians to run schools. However, for thousands of colleges and universities in China, there are still a few academicians as presidents. After all, there are only a few academicians, and many of them are very old. It is impossible for every school to hire academicians as principals.
We should also treat the phenomenon of "academician running the school" rationally. After all, the president of a university is an administrative post, which is very different from scientific research and teaching. Therefore, not all academicians are suitable to be principals, and academicians are not necessarily required to do this job well. Just like President Wang Shuguo of Xi Jiao Tong University, although he is not an academician, I think his school management level, ability and accomplishment are far superior to other academicians.