In recent years, teachers at many universities in China have been forced to dip into their own pockets or even take out loans to meet the hefty funding targets, necessary for promotions or performance evaluations. Some teachers who refused to falsify data have faced dismissal. This abnormal funding assessment criteria at universities have been spreading to many areas, prompting public attention.
According to a report by Phoenix News, teachers at universities in many parts of China, especially those in the humanities and social sciences departments, are facing unprecedented pressure – they must meet high targets for “lateral funds” to be credited to their accounts. This strict criterion has been directly linked to promotions, performance evaluations, and even contract renewals, forcing many teachers to self-fund or even borrow money to make ends meet.
The so-called “lateral funds” are a type of research funding in universities, which refer to research funding obtained from enterprises or social institutions and are used as indicators to measure the results of industry-academic-research collaborations. This type of funding is in contrast to the “vertical funds” provided by national and local governments.
In a private undergraduate institution in Xi’an, the School of Literature was given a target of 7.02 million to be credited, with teaching assistants assigned a mandatory lateral fund task of 45,000 yuan. Literature department teachers have expressed that it is nearly impossible for humanities majors to obtain such funding through technical services like those in science and engineering majors. However, the school principal openly suggested at a mobilization meeting: “If you can bring in lateral research projects, that’s your ability. If you can’t, go find a company to fake a contract.” The principal implied that teachers should fund it themselves, and could complete the targets in installments. The principal also threatened, “Either meet the target or leave…”
In order to keep their jobs intact, many teachers have had to spend money. A head of a humanities research department admitted that he once spent 90,000 yuan of his own money to complete the task, and later successfully reimbursed the amount. Another teacher revealed that they took out an 80,000 yuan loan to deal with inspections, “and paid off the full amount a year later, with no issues in the reimbursement process.”
Searching for “lateral projects” on Xiaohongshu (a social media platform), many posts appear discussing experiences of “spending money to protect oneself.” In Tianjin, a teacher sold their house and put up 400,000 yuan to “recharge” lateral funds for the school.
The issue of falsifying lateral funds at universities has worsened, forming a gray industry chain, with professional intermediaries operating solely on providing false contracts and reimbursement services for teachers.
Reportedly, there are also teachers who refuse to leave an irremovable stain on their professional record by refusing to falsify funding. Tang Wensheng (pseudonym), a teacher from Xi’an, was dismissed by the school for staunchly refusing to sign fake contracts. Six other teachers from the same literature department who also refused to comply were collectively dismissed for their stance.
Shandong lecturer in humanities, Wang Sen (pseudonym), eventually resigned due to the inability to bear the high lateral funding tasks and deep disappointment with the academic environment, opting to pursue educational consultancy instead.
The report states that this “reverse elimination” mechanism is driving away teachers with genuine academic ethics, leaving behind those willing to dance with false data.
Liu Yijun (pseudonym), a postdoctoral researcher at Beihang University in Beijing, observed that the current logic of assessment in universities is “either give me reputation, or give me money.”
Regarding the chaos of funding assessment at universities, numerous interviewed teachers believe that the key problem lies in the national policy for degree conferral, as the Chinese State Council’s Academic Degrees Committee has included “lateral funds” as an evaluation standard for granting master’s degrees. This policy has led many second-tier universities to put increasing pressure on teachers for the sake of maintaining their master’s degree granting eligibility, and first-tier universities are similarly under immense pressure to compete for the “Double First-Class” title. This top-down transmission of indicators ultimately shifts all the pressure onto the most basic level of ordinary teachers.
These cases clearly outline the significant harm caused to the teaching community by the distorted assessment system in some higher education institutions today. The ivory tower, which should focus on scholarly pursuits and nurturing students, is turning into a utilitarian arena filled with ambition and the pursuit of fame.
Falsifying “lateral funds” targets is just a microcosm of the current chaos in universities. Apart from funding pressures, teachers are also burdened with multiple stressors: heavy administrative tasks, unreasonable performance evaluation systems, and “digitized monitoring” in the teaching process – the “absent listening” system monitors classrooms, and “upward gaze rate” becomes a measure of teaching quality, placing teachers in a precarious situation.
Shi Yun (pseudonym), a humanities lecturer in Jiangsu, lamented that the idyllic image of university teachers having stable jobs and time freedom has become a thing of the past. Nowadays, university teachers have multiple roles, and working overtime has become a common occurrence.
Netizens have expressed shock and dissatisfaction with the falsification of “lateral funds” targets at universities: “This is shocking. Teachers should be supported, not burdened with economic responsibilities to complete school funding tasks. Being forced to take out loans or spend their own money to meet these targets has crossed ethical boundaries, exposing serious issues in the higher education system.”
“To have to take out a loan just to go to work is even more surreal than buying a house or a car.”
“This has indeed become a widespread phenomenon. Regardless of whether it’s a good or bad university, they are all doing the same thing, and the specific reasons behind it are still unclear.”
“The expansion of the headcount tax – besides pressuring students for tuition fees and extra classes, now teachers also have to pay teaching fees. Under the rule of the Communist Party, everyone has to pay protection fees to the Communist Party.”