165438+1On October 27th and 28th, China Academy of Engineering and China Academy of Sciences announced the results of 20 17. According to incomplete statistics, at least the presidents of Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Wuhan University of Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Jiangnan University and Hunan Business School were elected as academicians of China Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Engineering.
I believe that these university presidents have strong academic ability, but I really don't advocate their re-election as academicians. This is not a denial of their academic ability, but as principals, on the one hand, they should exercise restraint in high positions; On the one hand, there are too many affairs and limited energy.
According to the Constitution of China Academy of Sciences and the Constitution of China Academy of Engineering, academicians of China Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Engineering are the highest academic titles in the fields of science and technology and engineering science and technology respectively, and they are lifelong honors.
In addition to these newly elected academicians, many current university presidents are academicians, especially some 985 university presidents. In addition to the newly elected Zhejiang University and Wuhan University, the current presidents of 985 universities such as Tsinghua, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, China University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tongji University and Nanda University are academicians. Only the presidents of a few 985 universities such as Peking University, National People's Congress, Beijing Normal University, China Agricultural University, Nankai University, Shanda University, Xi Jiaotong University and Xiamen University are not academicians.
In addition, many presidents of non-985 universities are academicians. Among the newly elected academicians are presidents of Wuhan University of Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Jiangnan University, Taiyuan University of Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Hunan Business School and other universities.
University presidents can get a lot of administrative resources, academic resources and even hold a lot of money by virtue of their "leading position" to participate in resource allocation. As an educator, principals can feel the necessity of "de-administration" in the process of dealing with the government, and have more reason to set an example and "de-administration" in the internal management of schools. We should also exercise restraint in the face of honor and take the lead in returning academic honors such as "academician" to experts who really engage in academics.
Dong Qi, president of Beijing Normal University, made a public promise when he took office that he would not declare new topics and academicians during his term of office. This is an act of restraint and avoidance.
Moreover, university presidents have many daily affairs and limited energy, so it is difficult to ensure enough time to quietly carry out academic frontier research. Although it cannot be completely ruled out that some of them can do a good job in scientific research and management, it is difficult to ensure that one's energy is limited.
In fact, the education authorities have long noticed this problem: from 2065438 to the beginning of 2004, the party group of the Ministry of Education clearly pointed out to the universities directly under the Ministry of Education that leading cadres should not engage in personal academic activities and social activities unrelated to the development of the school during working hours, and party committee secretaries and principals should generally not be the main leaders of scientific research projects.
The Higher Education Law clearly stipulates that the president is the legal representative of a university and has clear administrative responsibilities. The headmaster should be fully responsible for the school's teaching, scientific research and other administrative work, and clearly list seven functions and powers. In order to effectively perform the duties and powers stipulated in the Higher Education Law, it is necessary to spend too much energy on university presidents.
With the deepening of the reform of higher education system, the expansion of autonomy in running schools and the expansion of public service functions of universities, the social relations faced by universities are becoming more and more complicated. In addition to coordinating the internal management of universities, university presidents need to spend a lot of energy to deal with the relations with the government, enterprises and communities.
The academic research function of university presidents should be gradually weakened. The status of scholars and experts is of course important to them, but the more important position is the school administrators, who have the responsibility to put more energy into university management. If both academic research and administrative work should be done well, both sides may not do well, and they will also leave the public with an excuse that both sides want to touch their interests.