A Study On The Role Of The Academic Dean In Chinese Universities From The Perspective Of Governance

The schools/colleges are the core units and fundamental cells of universities, carrying out teaching, researches and social services. Deans of these departments more than any other academic administrators, link central administration with academic departments. On one hand, they serve as extensions of the presidency; on the other, they are regarded by many as extensions of faculty.In this study, the role theories not only be used with functional perspective, but also with the more micro level approach of the symbolic interactionist-tradition. These theories provide the analytic framework for this study.The deanship’s lineage can be traced back to medieval universities, but at the beginning there was no deanship in faculties or colleges (halls).And even the deanship was established subsequently, it was just a subordinate role. The colleges or halls of Oxbridge inherited and carried forward the tradition of medieval university. The Deans are elected as the representative by the equal members of the autonomous community. The deans of Germany universities are elected among the chair professors who enjoyed highly academic autonomy. It has been two centuries so far from the first dean, appointed in1816, oversaw the medical school at Harvard. In U.S., originally the dean of colleges or school was held by the faculty member, in most cases who were appointed by the presidents or the board of trustees of the institution, more or less who was elected or nominated by the faculties. Much the same was true that almost all of the deans have teaching duties. In the process of the development of universities, the dean, taking more and more responsibilities which belonged to the president, is more like the president than anytime.Historical research indicated that the emergence and development of the dean was with the developing of the university’ functions, closely relating to the institution’s traditional governance. Both the national university system and the man who held the position of the deanship, affected the role of the dean. Meanwhile, the functions and the relationships of the dean were differed largely upon the size and organization of the institution, the manner of election to office, and the tenure of the office.Chinese modern universities drew on the experience of the western universities’ system which abandoned the Chinese traditional disciplines and changed from faculty to college, from category to faculty. Chinese universities were under control of the central government since the establishment. The deans of faculty of the Imperial University of Peking were appointed by the Emperor, having dual characteristics of the bureaucratic and professional. After the founding of the Republic of China, the dean of universities were replaced by scholars who were the active participants of universities’ governance, playing the roles similar to those of European and American universities. The roles of dean were diversified:on one hand, the central government prescribed the role the deans, but at the same time, they were deeply influenced by the president and the tradition of different universities. The deans of this period time usually were males in their30’s-40’s and most of them had studied abroad with PhD, Master or Bachelor degrees. In addition, most of them were well experienced working in various universities and had undertaken some academic administration work.Since the founding of People’s Republic of China and especially the restructure of departments, the government as the sole investor, holder and immediate administrator of the university established a highly-centralized college management system based on the planned economy. A top-down hierarchy came into existence among the government、the university and various departments. Under the highly-centralized management system, the bureaucratic and political revolutionary role of the dean became prominent as its academic significance was downplayed. The dean played a role as "the specialist setter" between decision-makers and staff at the grass-roots level in the university and in the mean time he assumed a "parent role" in the department.The drastic reform in the governance structure of the university attributed to the change of role of the dean. During the process, colleges/schools became the highlight of university governance and development. Faced with market competition, the role of various organizations and departments with varying levels of subject development differs in the university. Rank under the centralized management system and some new features characterize the relationship between the dean, the decision-making level, functions and colleagues in the department. As the administrator appointed by the president, the dean played a leading role in colleges/schools development program, discipline build-up, assessment and management of faculty members and the resources allocation. Some deans would even become initiators of objectives and idea of development of the colleges. The normalization and uniformity of roles prescribed by government coexisted with the characteristics of universities and individual variations. The academic ability and academic power have greater effect on the roles of deans, thus the role norm of deans becomes vague and role conflicts rises. Interaction is major approach for the deans to take the role. Compared to former more centralized system, the current system produced more scholarly and younger deans, though with a serious problem of "academic affinity".To meet the requirement of the construction of Chinese modern universities and follow the trend of the role played by the deans of the international modern universities, the deans of Chinese universities should first stimulate the academic innovation level of the basic organization such as colleges and departments; Secondly, they should develop and enhance the academic creative and innovative competency of both the organizations and the faculties. Thus, the reform of the structure of the governance of modern colleges/schools can be achieved. These can be the best and possible approach for the deans to transfer the roles in the construction of Chinese modern universities.