Study On The Use Of Part-time Faculty In American Higher Education

American higher education has experienced a dramatic increase in the employment of part-time faculty since 1970s. This paper introduces the present situation of part-time faculty in American universities and colleges, including their scale, distribution, and portrait, explores the reason why universities and colleges are heavily relying on them, reveals their unfair treatment through discussing their salary, benefits, working support, and job security, and analyses teaching issues related to part-time faculty, such as their quality, evaluation, academic freedom, involvement in student's learning , collegia!ity, and teaching methods. In the end, this paper suggests that Chinese universities and colleges should reasonably use part-time faculty and integrate them well.