Presidents balancing many roles
双击或划选，即可查看单词的详细解释，并收录生词进生词本
Chen Zhangliang with students who stayed on campus during the 2005 Spring Festival. NEWSPHOTO
NEWS that "Brother Liang" (Liangge) plans to leave China Agricultural University (CAU) left an entire campus in sadness at the end of December. "Liangge" is an affectionate term of address students use for Chen Zhangliang, 47, who's been president at CAU since 2002.
"Nobody wants Liangge to leave because he really cares about us students. He's our president forever, wherever he goes," said Li Lan, 19, a second-year English major. Many students at CAU have Liangge's name card, which he gives to needy students he meets. "Come to me if you have a problem," he often says.
This compassion and visibility has earned Chen respect, perhaps because so few university presidents can match it. A 2005 survey by Chinablog.com found that around 80 percent of people interviewed didn't support, appreciate or even know who their university presidents were. At most universities today, presidents like Chen are a rarity.
Currently, there are about 2,000 higher education institutes in China. Most university heads are appointed by either the central government or by local governments. Their term lasts four years.
Zhan Hongyi, a researcher at Renmin University of China, co-authored a study on the qualifications of Chinese university presidents last year. According to Zhan, today's university heads still have the core responsibilities of being educators who know the university system, professors and students. However, they also have additional responsibilities.
"A president often plays the role of a company's CEO. He needs to network with governments, budget money wisely, recruit talent and promote the image of the university in public," said Zhan.
This is a different role from that of decades past. In those days, university presidents such as Cai Yuanpei, the first president of Peking University (1916-27), and Mei Yiqi, president of Tsinghua University (1931-48), impressed people with their lectures and thoughts on education.
More responsibilities
Le Ping, a sociology professor at Beida, believes a good university president "not only influences the university through what he builds, but also what he believes in, and what kind of person he is." According to Le, "The open spirit of Beida advocated by its first president, Cai Yuanpei, made Beida what it is today."
However, today's presidents have their hands full. Rao Zihe, the president of Nankai University, gives this example: "A president in the 1990s only received 80 million yuan annually from the government to run a university. Today, Nankai receives 800 million yuan every year to keep the university running and developing. The job of president requires more managing ability."
This translates to less face-time with students on campus. Ji Baocheng, president of Renda, has two major goals as president: "Raising money for buildings and finding professors." Ji, quoting Mei Yiqi, former president of Tsinghua, said: "A university doesn't necessarily need to have impressive buildings, only really good professors."
However, Ji also believes a 21st century university needs to provide both these things. "Universities' core goal should be to offer students and teachers a comfortable place to learn and to teach."
About Chen Zhangliang
1961: born in Fujian Province
1978-1982: Bachelor’s degree from South China University of Tropical Agriculture
1983-1987: PhD from the University of Washington
1987-1992: associate professor/professor at Peking University
1992-1995: Dean of the School of Life Science at Peking University
1995-2002: Vice President of Peking University
2002-2007: President of China Agriculture University
2008- present: Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
What we want from our presidents
1. A president who can find money is a good president.
Our president is really young (a man in his 30s). "My only advantage is I am young," the president often says. And he hasn't missed any opportunity to play up on this advantage. For example, he often gets together with students to listen to what we have to say. But I think he should spend more time doing PR work with the government and officials of the Ministry of Education to win more support to develop the university.
Wang You, Shandong University
2. A president should have innovative ideas.Our president surprises us with his original thinking, such as, building a harmonious campus for students and animals. In 2005, our president introduced two goats to our campus. "The two goats are here to increase the wildlife on our lifeless campus. But if you don't like it, I can send them back," he wrote. It turns out that the students really enjoy their companions.
Li Xi, a 2006 graduate at University of International Business and Economics
3. A president should represent the image of the university.The president is a public figure who appears on every important occasion. Any tiny mistake made by a celebrity president could be a disaster. Our president couldn't recognize a Chinese character in a poem when he was giving calligraphy art as a gift to a famous party leader from Taiwan. Many people criticized the president on the Internet saying he caused the university and its students to lose "face".
Zhang Yujun, 26, Tsinghua University graduate
4. A president should protect the students. A female student was once hit by a car on campus. The car owner insulted the student. This angered other students and they began quarrelling with the driver. Out of anger, the students destroyed the car. But our president didn't punish the students. He took a stand on the students' side and said the university should improve the traffic control measures on campus.
Wei Lisha, Nankai University
---------------------------------------
生词：academician 院士
affectionate 亲切的
calligraphy 书法
celebrity 名人
companion 同伴
compassion 同情
criticize 批评
harmonious 和谐的
innovative 创新的
insult 侮辱
needy 贫困的
occasion 场合
represent 代表
21世纪英文报系报纸订阅>>
