(11 Jun 2021) The killing of a university Communist Party secretary by a lecturer at China’s prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai has shocked academics in China, unleashing a debate on pressures to perform and publish, research demands and precariousness of university jobs in China.
Jiang Wenhua (39), a teacher at the school of mathematical sciences at Fudan University, one of China’s top universities, was detained by police after he stabbed and killed Wang Yongzhen, the party secretary of the university’s school of mathematical sciences on 7 June.
According to academics in Shanghai, Jiang was on the ‘get promoted or dismissed system’, which has replaced the highly competitive reward system for tenure at some Chinese universities. While the details of the pressures on Jiang have not been revealed, it has unleashed a debate about the pressure of these evaluations which can derail tenure track academics.
More details can be found from the original news here.
