校園生活:大學教授貧富差距拉大
It has become a common sight in Chinese universities: poor professors cycling to classes on Flying Pigeon bicycles, while their higher-paid colleagues arrive in stylish BMWs. The disparity is a symbol of the large income gap which now exists on campuses across China.
“窮教授騎飛鴿，副教授開寶馬”，這樣的場景在中國大學校園已是屢見不鮮了。如此迥異的境遇表明，教授們的收入差距正逐漸拉大。
Such a situation is unimaginable to those who taught at Chinese universities in the past. One 81-year-old former university president, who refused to disclose his name, commented that he found the present day situation unbelievable.
那些在大學校園搞了一輩子教育的老教師根本無法想象這幾十年裏高校發生的變化。一位不願透露姓名的81歲老校長表示，他不敢相信眼前發生的這一切。
He stated that, before China's policy of reform and opening-up, professors could barely feed themselves. A simple bicycle would cost them six months' salary.
老校長說，改革開放前，教授們的生活基本屬於溫飽型，買一輛自行車，需要攢上半年工資。
In general, there was no real income difference among professors at the same level or with the same title; the rules were transparent and simple: a higher title meant a larger apartment and a ten-yuan (US$1.57) increase on the monthly salary.
在當時，同一級別職稱的教授收入基本沒有差別。所有人享受的待遇規則透明而簡約：職稱長一級，住的房子會大一點，每個月比別人多上10元錢。
The former university president said that, even as university president, he had no extra income apart from the extra monthly duty allowance.
他那時候任一所大學的校長，除了職務津貼之外，也沒有過額外的收入。
Despite these issues, he became involved in the independent research and development of China's first diesel engine in Dalian in 1958. As it was not a national research project, the project received no funding. However, his department won the support of Dalian Shipyard.
就是在這樣的背景下，1958年，他在大連參與主持了全國第一臺柴油機的自主研發。當時，這並不是國家的課題，沒有經費預算，但老校長所在的院系與大連造船廠一拍即合。
For more than a year, a group of teachers, along with a class of students, worked on numerous experiments before finally achieving success. At no point during the project did anyone mention money, the former president insisted. "We just wanted to prove that we could achieve our aim, as there was no diesel engine in China at that time," he said.
一批老師帶着一個班的學生，苦幹了一年多，各方想盡辦法提供試驗條件，終於研製成功，其間根本沒人提過錢的事情，“就是想要爭口氣，因爲國內沒有呀！”老校長感慨說。
According to the former president, the income disparity among professors dates back to the late 1990s, and was attributed to program commissions and the so-called "gray income" earned from concurrent off-campus jobs.
在老校長的記憶裏，教授收入差距的拉大，大約是在上個世紀90年代末以後，而且主要拉開差距的恰恰是項目提成以及校外兼職的灰色收入。
Since then, he has been constantly working to update his knowledge and understanding of the university system and the teachers within it.
由此肇始的變化，讓老校長不斷地刷新自己對高校體制、對高校教師的既有認識和理解。
The former president stated that, at his university in 1983, in order to decide which associate professor should be promoted, a group of older professors simply wrote their recommendations on a piece of paper.
據老校長介紹，1983年那會兒，他所在學校要評選正教授，一幫老教授聚在一起，一人一張紙，現場填寫“你認爲副教授中誰能上”。
The result was announced on the spot and later reported to the provincial Department of Education. He commented that today's method, where professors are dependent on form-filling and the number of papers they've had published, is very different indeed.
結果當場宣佈，並報到省教育廳。老校長說，哪像現在，要數論文，個人還得填寫一堆表格。
He also described as "ridiculous" the way in which some academic titles were conferred.
老校長聽說了現在有關評報職稱的事，表示有些做法顯得很“荒謬”。
In one example from several years ago, he recalled hearing about several associate professors in search of promotion who spent a month of their summer holiday vacation attending English classes. Those who attended the classes passed the exam. However, one professor, who did not take the classes, yet had a better overall command of English, only scored 55.
幾年前，一幫副教授要評職稱。這羣平時根本不用英語也不會說的人，暑期突擊苦戰一個月，職稱考試一一過關；唯獨一位英語好的副教授，沒參加輔導班，結果考了55分。
"How could they possibly assess university professors solely on their exam performance?" he exclaimed.
“他們居然用應試教育的方式來考覈大學教授！”老校長不禁感嘆。
He added that modern universities and their individual departments are under pressure to generate revenue. As a result, in order to help achieve this, there is a tendency among professors to offer lavish dinners and gifts, accept commissions, or worse. When faced with such commercial pressures, professors are unable to devote themselves to genuine research.
這些年，院系有了創收任務，教授們有了壓力，請客送禮、拿回扣開始司空見慣，甚至出現更出軌的事情。有了對經濟的追求，教授們已經無法潛心於真正的研究。
The former president believes that the serious issue of academic work has become commercialized. "Academics today attach little importance to making contributions in their field," he said. "They are more concerned with winning funding and programs."
老校長表示，學術工作這麼嚴肅的東西一下子變得商業化了。“沒有人看學術貢獻怎麼樣，只要能拉到項目、能拉到錢就是有本事。”
Not surprisingly in such an environment, modern university presidents are largely assessed on how much scientific research funding their university has won.
在這樣的環境下，大學一年能拉到多少科研經費成爲今天大學校長工作的重中之重，也就不足爲怪了。
However, only two decades ago, the former president, then president of his university, said that he was more concerned with the quality of the education provided by his university than with financial considerations. He concluded that immediate action was necessary to redress the balance.
可就在20年前，這位昔日的校長關注的還是教學質量的提升，對於科研經費並沒有概念。老校長表示，如今需要採取行動在二者之間取得平衡了。
"If money is the only consideration, both the education system and the country will be harmed," he said. "The education system should consider introducing reasonable salaries and making them public."
“一味鑽進錢眼中肯定害了教育也害了國家。”他說，“在制度設計層面多考慮報酬的公開、合理總是應該的吧。”
However, according to some, merely publishing professors' salaries would only tell part of the story. One netizen who calls himself "Zhanzhangdaheng" wrote that, as a professor of bridge engineering, he earns 200,000 yuan (US$31,454, including duty allowance and bonuses), per year. He also receives an annual fund of around three million yuan (US$471,809) for his research subjects.
不過，也有網友迴應，單純地公開教授的薪酬只能說明部分問題。網友“站長大亨”稱自己是一所大學的教授，專業是橋樑工程。每年制度內的收入20萬元左右（當然還包括崗位津貼和獎金），課題經費平均每年300萬元左右。
"It's not sufficient to see how much I earn," he wrote. "You should also be aware of how much effort I've put in. For almost ten years, holidays and weekends have been alien concepts to me."
“你不要看我錢多，但你知道我付出多少，我將近10年幾乎從沒有休假和週末的概念。”“站長大亨”說。
There are professors whose salaries are much lower. In general, they tend to work in traditional subjects for an average yearly salary of not less than 100,000 yuan (US$15,727).
拿得比較少的教授也有，就是一些傳統學科，但這些教授平均年薪也不會少於10萬元。
For netizen "xinr2010", money is just a symptom of an underlying problem. "The problem is not whether these professors are rich or poor, but the reason underlying the phenomenon," he wrote. "The most disappointing aspect is that professors who devote themselves to teaching and scientific research are poor; perhaps most infuriatingly, those who neither teach nor undertake scientific research are rich."
網友“xinr2010”則表示，錢只是一個表象，並非問題本質所在。“問題不在於教授的窮富，而是窮富的原因。最讓人寒心的是認真教學、認真科研的同時也是窮教授；最讓人憤怒的是不教學不科研的卻是富教授。”
However, commentator Zhang Pengjie believes that it's unreasonable to keep all professors at the same income level. But he, like netizen "xinr2010", also feels there are wider issues involved. "If those professors are poor because their subjects are ignored and few tasks or programs are available for them, these things will need to be addressed," he said.
與網友“xinr2010”一樣，時評作者張鵬傑也認爲這裏涉及到的問題遠不止於此。不過，在他看來，教授收入沒有理由必須步調統一、水平一致，“但是教授窮、教授苦，卻是因爲學科不受重視，缺課題，少項目，那就值得關注了。”
