Research On The Interdisciplinary Faculty Joint Appointment System Of The University Of Michigan

To promote interdisciplinary development is an objective requirement for the country to carry out innovation system reform,build first-class universities,and improve the comprehensive competitiveness of universities.Teachers are an important part of interdisciplinary development in colleges.The development and improvement of teacher appointment system plays a vital role in the realization of interdisciplinary development.Joint appointment system is a kind of appointment system which was widely used in the process of interdisciplinary development of colleges and universities.Joint appointment system is a system in which teachers are employed by two or more academic units under the background of interdisciplinary.However,due to the traditional discipline differentiation,the uneven distribution of resources between traditional departments and interdisciplinary organizations,the inconvenient promotion system,the inflexible evaluation system and the imperfect guarantee system,the team of interdisciplinary teachers in China is relatively weak,and the development of interdisciplinary teachers’ joint appointment is extremely difficult.Therefore,it is particularly important to study the joint appointment of interdisciplinary teachers.This paper selects the University of Michigan as a case,which has a relatively perfect system of joint appointment of interdisciplinary teachers in American universities.By using the methods of literature research,comparative research and case study,this paper studies the joint appointment system of interdisciplinary teachers in the University of Michigan.Firstly,this paper combs the development process of the interdisciplinary faculty joint appointment system in the University of Michigan.Secondly,the operation system of joint appointment system is described in detail,including appointment principle,appointment type,appointment plan and appointment procedure.Thirdly,the paper analyzes the guarantee system of interdisciplinary teachers’ joint appointment from three aspects: promotion system,evaluation system and incentive system.Finally,on the basis of the above research,this paper summarizes the four characteristics of the interdisciplinary teacher joint appointment system of the University of Michigan: scientific and reasonable working system;loose and convenient promotion system;flexible and diverse evaluation system;rich and sound incentive system.Returning to China,this paper analyzes the existing problems of the joint appointment system of interdisciplinary teachers in Colleges and Universities: the working system of the joint appointment system of interdisciplinary teachers is not scientific enough,and the gap between colleges and departments is difficult to overcome;the evaluation system is relatively lack;the incentive system is not perfect enough.This paper also gains four experiences of the interdisciplinary faculty joint appointment system of the University of Michigan.In terms of concept,it is necessary to cross the gap between colleges and departments then create an open and inclusive academic atmosphere;in terms of form,it is necessary to clarify the administrative affiliation and construct a scientific then reasonable working system;in terms of system,Get rid of "only thesis","only education","only hat","only professional title" and "only award",then establish a flexible and diverse evaluation system;in terms of policy,it is necessary to increase special funds and take stable and sound incentive measures.