Mainland universities offering positions to faculty from Taiwan

The first group of mainland students attend their graduation ceremony at the Tamkang University in Taiwan. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mainland universities have found a new source of teaching faculty in Taiwan, where many talented academics receive comparatively low incomes due to oversupply, according to Taiwan-based United Daily News.

The Chinese mainland's Fujian province is going to hire about 200 full-time teachers from Taiwan in 2016, according to the provincial department of education.

Currently, 69 universities in Fujian have signed 500 agreements with Taiwan universities, deepening cross-Straits education cooperation.

Yang Jiangfan, deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Education Committee, said that 132 Taiwan teachers were introduced to Fujian in 2015.

Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, has 50 Taiwan teachers, about ten percent of its teaching faculty.

The branch of Beijing Institute of Technology in Zhuhai, Guangdong province has set up a special page on its official website last year dedicated to hiring educational personnel in Taiwan. The university put an advertisement in a Taiwan newspaper this Tuesday, aiming to recruit more than 100 Taiwan teachers for its some 30 departments.

The school, requiring its Taiwan employees to teach in English, promised to offer an annual income of 250,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan ($37,950 to 45,540) for professors, 220,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan for associate professors and 200,000 yuan to 220,000 yuan for assistant professors.

In addition, Taiwan talents will also be provided with 100,000 yuan of "settling-in allowance", a 100,000-yuan fund to launch their scientific research, housing fund and social insurance covering retirement, unemployment, as well as a round-trip ticket to Taiwan every year. Once employed, the teachers can also get an apartment with three bedrooms and one hall at a monthly rent of 1,300 yuan.

The report said that many teachers in Taiwan are underpaid as there are fewer students in universities due to the lowering birthrate and oversupply of universities on the island.

According to statistics released by the Taiwan education authority, the number of talents with a PHD in Taiwan has increased by 30,000 every year since 2010. As a result, many high-level talents are suffering from low pay and some even find it hard to secure a job.

An assistant professor of a private university in Taiwan surnamed Chen, quoted by the United Daily News, said that if he takes the job in Zhuhai, he can get an annual income of about 400,000 yuan, doubling his income in Taiwan.

Chen admitted that the offers from mainland universities are quite attractive for young scholars in Taiwan. And he has also discussed possible job opportunities with universities in Guangdong and Chongqing. He plans to pick one from the offers and head for the mainland next school year.

Chen said that some of his colleagues are also talking about teaching in the mainland. He believed that besides generous payments, better development prospects in the mainland are also considered a key element in making the decision.

It may soon become a trend for Taiwan teachers to teach in the mainland, Chen said.