Associate professor is a professional and technical title of school teachers, and has no administrative level. If he holds an administrative position in a school, it depends on the status and level of his school. Suppose that Tsinghua University's associate professor concurrently serves as the dean, and since Tsinghua University belongs to the vice-ministerial unit, the dean's administrative level is the vice-ministerial.

Although associate professors have no administrative level, their salaries and benefits are generally paid at the deputy department level, while professors are paid at the director level. In addition, associate professors in different universities will be different.

China's administrative levels are divided into five levels: national level, provincial and ministerial level, departmental level, county level and township level, and all levels are divided into deputies. The level of the central ministries and commissions is what we usually call "state, Ministry (province), department, department and branch". In addition to the national level, the other four levels are what we often call local three-level administrative divisions. The common stock level (share level) is a level between the deputy level and the clerk level. It is a conventional title and belongs to the local administrative level.