Accountability finally comes to university teachers

Starting in September next year, barring violent and unforeseeable protests, all university teachers in Hong Kong government-funded institutions (including all professors and lecturers disregarding their grades) will be held accountable for how they spend time on teaching or research on a daily basis. In a nutshell, it means they have to fill in "timesheets" telling the government how they spend the eight hours on a particular working day.

In the past few weeks, the government's University Grants Committee (UGC) has told the eight local government-funded universities of its plan. It is understood that top university administrators have reluctantly accepted the government's plan. However, it is another story with staff associations. Some of them reportedly will hold demonstrations in the next few days to protest against the government's unprecedented, if not controversial, move.

How does the government's proposal work? Laymen need some enlightenment here. University teachers are divided into two camps - teaching lecturers and researching professors. Teaching lecturers include assistant lecturers, lecturers, senior lecturers and principal lecturers. Typically they are required to teach seven courses a year and do not need to do research unless they volunteer to. On the contrary the professors (including assistant, associate, full and chair professors) teach only four courses a year but need to produce at least two publishable academically researched papers.

The UGC's new plan will require all university teachers to inform the government, apart from hours spent in classrooms, how they spend the rest of the day. In other words, they need to fill in "timesheets" to tell top education brass what else they are doing for the rest of the day or week. If teachers engage in research, well, the government needs to know what the research is all about and how much time they spend on it in a particular day.

Some university staff association members accuse the UGC of treating them like factory workers or taxi drivers. These blue-collar workers have to tell employers how much time they put in at work on a particular day so they can be paid accordingly. Some university teachers say the UGC's new move is insulting and humiliating. They might do something to voice their discontent.

I, being a university professor, fully support the government's latest move. It is long-time coming. Most university teachers are responsible people but there is bad blood in any profession. Some university teachers, except in classrooms, are nowhere to be seen. They might simply work three hours a day and spend the rest enjoying life. For professors who are required to do research, there is no mechanism to punish them if they do not produce any research papers. The only drawback they might perhaps have is a delay in promotion.

Teachers are like any other government workers. If they receive money from the government, they are answerable to Hong Kong's taxpayers. I am sure most Hong Kong folks would agree with the UGC's new plan to make all university teachers accountable. The government spent HK$19 billion on university education in the 2015-16 financial year (the latest figures available). That is a lot of money. A big chunk of this amount goes into the pockets of university teachers and researchers.

It is hoped my colleagues in government-funded universities would embrace the UGC's new plan with grace and honor. When we require other people to be accountable for what they do, we should set a good example ourselves and take time to fill in "timesheets". The government, in fact, is quite generous. It will give university teachers one whole year to digest and swallow the new requirement before they need to do it in September next year.

(HK Edition 06/29/2017 page1)