Exploring University Teacher Construction for Higher Education Sustainability in China: Perspective from Policy Instruments

Abstract

Teacher construction is a long-standing focus of global teacher governance. The construction of a highly qualified and professional higher education teaching force is a source of impetus for the sustainable development of higher education. In-depth systematic analysis of representative macro policies for Chinese university teachers is currently limited. Thus, this study employs the perspective of policy instruments and establishes a two-dimensional analytical framework to examine a key Chinese official teacher policy document to reveal the Chinese government’s policy intentions and instrument use preferences for current higher education teacher development. The aim is to explore the improvement of policy instruments for higher education teacher construction to promote sustainable development in China’s higher education institutions and to contribute Chinese experience to global teacher governance. The results indicate that the ratio of policy instrument use has structural disparities and insufficient appropriateness to the elements of the teacher management process. Environment-oriented policy instruments have been a critical thrust of the current Chinese government’s reform of university teacher development. It is recommended to pay attention to the systemic character of teacher growth and the optimal coordination of content elements and policy instruments to form a governance synergy for the high-quality and sustainable development of higher education.

Sustainability of Higher Education: Study of Student Opinions about the Possibility of Replacing Teachers with AI Technologies

“…The use of any tools and approaches in education is directly related to students' feedback on the effectiveness of their actions and the prospects for further implementation [1][2][3]. In this way, data on the model of a sustainable university are accumulated, and the challenges facing education are analyzed.…”

“…Authors from China [3] studied the tools for training university teachers for the further sustainable development of higher education institutions. They linked the systemic growth of teaching staff to the sustainable development of higher education.…”

“…Therefore, while developing the research described in the article [3], society should know whether there is a threat of a complete replacement of university teachers by AI technologies. Based on the results of a literature review, including source [2], the authors of this study studied the opinions of 599 students to ensure the sustainability of higher education.…”

Faculty competences development components: an integrated model for the development of educational leaders in technical education institutes

“…Competences development of ELs provides benefits for faculty, institutions and society in the following manner: 2.3.1 Benefits to the institution. Include advancement of the educational organization (Ma et al, 2023;Aiyer, 2014), gaining competitive advantage (Hegde, 2013), decrease in the risk of higher turnover of faculty (Izadinia, 2015), increase in goodwill (Goyal and Chhabra, 2016), visible support to organizational strategies and harmony among faculty members (Guinn, 1998).…”

“…2.3.2 Benefits to the society. Include an increase in quality of education for the development of a knowledge society (Kintz et al, 2015), sustainable economic growth (Ma et al, 2023;Aiyer, 2014), technological and scientific innovations (Hegde, 2013), employment generation and prosperity (Aiyer, 2014).…”