Autonomous Professional Development Of Junior Faculty In Research Universities Based On The Case Study Of Xiamen University

Junior faculty are the new force and backbone in the university’s whole faculty and autonomous professional development is the nature of junior faculty’s professional development.However,autonomous professional development of junior faculty in research universities is facing new requirements raised by the popularization of higher education and new challenges raised by economic and social development.Moreover,there are certain dilemmas due to the actual problems existing in faculty themselves,universities and society.As a late-developing country in higher education,China’s attention to the professional development of young teachers is later than that of advanced higher education developed countries.It needs to learn from the advanced experience of developed countries in consideration of its own characteristics,avoid detours and achieve catch-up.Therefore,the study focuses on junior faculty in research universities by means of interviews,case analysis,and comparison methods,and presents a complete picture,important features and feasible paths of junior faculty’s professional development in research universities.The study selects a domestic "double first-class" research university—Xiamen University as a research case and analyze the three dimensions of professional development-willingness,freedom and action of 34 junior professors’ autonomous professional development based on the systematic discussion of the connotation of independent professional development and by means of the semi-structured interview.The study also introduces the history,systems and organizations of junior faculty’s professional development in the United States,the United Kingdom and Germany which have developed higher education,and selects one research university in each country-the University of Michigan,the University of Cambridge and the University of Heidelberg as the research cases,using comparative methods to analyze the characteristics of junior faculty’s professional development in the three countries.The interview results show that most junior professors have strong willingness for teaching or academic development,some have weak willingness for teaching development,and a few have weak willingness for academic development.About onethird of junior professors think that freedom of professional development is generally sufficient;a few think that the freedom of teaching development is insufficient;most think that freedom of academic development is insufficient.About half of junior professors have proper professional self-planning and management;others have little self-planning and management.There are differences in the independent professional development of junior faculty’s autonomous professional development at Xiamen University at different stages,different aspects and in different faculties.From the transition stage to the accumulation stage and then to the maturity stage,junior faculty’ focus shifts from teaching development to academic development,and finally re-focus on teaching development;the internal motivations of professional development gradually increase,the decision-making freedom and external resources gradually increased;self-planning and management awareness and performance become more obvious.What’s more,junior faculty’s willingness for academic development is generally stronger than that for teaching development.Objectively,academic development resources are more abundant,but junior faculty subjectively perceive that academic development is more restricted.The self-planning of academic development is more obvious than that of teaching development.Teaching development has higher requirements for teachers’ self-drive and orientation,while academic development has higher requirements for teachers’ self-regulation.Junior professors in the Faculty of Humanity,Science,and Social Sciences generally have more willingness for professional development and teaching development,more freedom in professional development and more self-drive and orientation performance than those in the Faculty of Engineering,Medicine and Earth Science.The teaching development of junior professors is paid more attention to and more teaching incentive mechanisms have been established in research universities of the United States,the United Kingdom and Germany.They attach much importance to the individualization and diversification of junior faculty’s professional development,value the subjectivity of junior faculty and have a strong sense of service.Their faculty development organizations play a core coordinating role with cross-units cooperation.There are still problems in junior faculty’s autonomous professional development such as uneven development,young professors’ subjectivity to be recognized and valued,and separation of teaching and academic development.In view of the characteristics and existing problems of the junior faculty’s professional development in research universities,junior faculty and universities are supposed to make corresponding efforts to promote autonomous professional development.Junior faculty themselves need to be aware of professional development autonomy,self-examine professional development practices and seek to establish connections and support networks.The external organizational environment needs to strengthen the peopleoriented service consciousness,recognize the subjectivity of y junior faculty,improve the professional development incentive and guidance mechanism,optimize the administrative approval and management system,expand the functions of the faculty development organizations,and optimize the theme,format,time and frequency of development programs.