Dear Union,
Thank you for your effort. [...]I totally agree that instructors are not being properly recognized by the University, despite increasing expectation of them. Besides teaching, many Instructors are expected to assist / be involved in research. However, due to regulations, they will not be given to opportunity to apply for support or funding for doing research.
In fact, as an instructor, I hold the same academic qualification as the assistant professor and associate professor in the [department], in the same stream of expertise. From my understanding, my department is not interested in promoting instructors to the academic track. Clearly, the career ladder for Instructors is very limited and it is obvious that the University is not interested in giving the Instructors opportunities for further development. It is very discouraging and significantly affect the passion for us to contribute as a “teacher”.
I am very surprised and disappointed that a University, being the highest educational institute, is not committed to maintaining a high quality of teaching via proper recognition of its teaching staff. Often, instructors are the ones most interested in delivering good teaching and mentorship with students. In fact, the status recognition of instructors will also affect the trust between instructors and students. I hope the union’s effort will successfully lead to rectification and allow us to continue serving the University.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sadly, there are many PhD holders, some with Postdoc experience, being offered Instructor II only. However, their teaching load is usually not less than that of a prof. I propose to condduct a review on the Instructor rank because some of the details are ridiculous. (e.g the entry requirement of Instructor II is a Degree, which is seemingly out-dated).
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that CUHK was applying for revision of the CUHK ordinance. I was even more shocked when I found out that the University was NOT taking this opportunity to rectify the discriminatory practice that had existed for years. What did our university administrators have in mind?
ReplyDeleteSome instructors do high quality / impact researches that are recognized by peers in the mainstream of their expertise in the west. Yet, here at CUHK they are only regarded as cheap labor who have the lowest paid but heaviest (and ever increasing) workload. Why some people who make zero contribution in research are graded as "professor", while brilliant young scholars are kept in the instructor rank?
ReplyDelete