The teaching profession—traditionally considered an admirable occupation—is indeed becoming that in China because of improving social status, job stability and handsome income. A special policy aimed at attracting excellent teachers—the "Yangtze River Scholars Reward Plan," has appointed 412 specially engaged professors and 33 lecture professors among 69 institutions of higher learning. Many provinces and municipalities hold large-scale job-hunting fairs in the hope of attracting students studying overseas to return to China. On April 28, 2002, Tsinghua University offered letters of appointment for lecture professors to 28 overseas Chinese scholars, who each have an annual salary of one million yuan and will work for three to four months every year in the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University. In March 2003, John Thornton, co-president of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., resigned his position in the prestigious Wall Street firm to accept Tsinghua University's invitation to become a professor in Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management.
The teaching profession is continuously growing with higher standards. In institutions of higher learning, professors and associate professors account for 9.5 percent and 30 percent of the total amount of teachers, respectively; and the young and middle-aged have become the mainstay, with those at or less than 45 and those at or less than 35 years old making up 79 percent and 46 percent, respectively, of the total. Teachers in institutions of higher learning have also engaged in a great deal of scientific research to become a critical force in scientific research, knowledge innovation and scientific and technological innovations. At present, there are 280 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in institutions of higher learning, and 234 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. With the initial establishment of the continuing education system, the comprehensive qualities of the teachers in elementary and secondary schools throughout the country have been further improved. At present, over 86 percent of teachers in senior and junior high schools were less than 45 years old.
