Academic ranks in China

Most universities in the People's Republic of China adopt a four-level academic rank system (Senior rank, Vice-Senior rank, Medium rank, and Junior rank), i.e. professor, associate professor, lecturer, and assistant lecturer.^[1] More recently, some top universities (e.g. Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University) also added the American-style title of assistant professor, typically granted to tenure-track positions, with the expectation that they will be promoted to associate professor (tenured or untenured) and then full professor (tenured) within the academic tenure system.^{[citation needed]}

Most PhD graduates will initially be appointed at the lecturer level and receive the qualification to be promoted to associate professorship after several years of teaching. However, people holding a doctorate from Western universities and with some working experience overseas will occasionally be appointed at a higher level, in exceptional cases at the full professor level directly.^{[citation needed]} Mostly, each individuate institute has only one principal rank (e.g. dean of a college, president of a university) and multiple deputy ranks.

Four-level academic rank in different series (Senior rank, Vice-Senior rank, Medium rank, and Junior rank)

Professor series

• Professor (Senior rank) (教授)
• Associate Professor (Vice-Senior rank) (副教授)
• Lecturer (Medium rank) (讲师) or Assistant Professor (American-style title) (助理教授)
• Assistant Lecturer, or Associate Lecturer (Junior rank) (助教)

Engineer series

• Professorate Senior Engineer^[2] (Senior rank) (正高级工程师)
• Senior Engineer (Vice-Senior rank) (高级工程师)
• Engineer (Medium rank) (工程师)
• Assistant Engineer (Junior rank) (助理工程师)

Researcher series

• Researcher (Senior rank) (研究员)
• Associate researcher (Vice-Senior rank) (副研究员)
• Assistant researcher (Medium rank) (助理研究员)
• Intern researcher (Junior rank) (实习研究员)

Academic trainee

• Postdoctoral research fellow (博士后研究员) and research fellow/researcher ( 研究员)
• Research assistant (研究助理) and teaching assistant ( 教学助理/助教)
• Doctoral student (博士研究生)
• Master student (硕士研究生)
• Undergraduate student or Bachelor student (本科生)

Honorary titles

• Academician (院士), a person who was nominated as a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering or/and Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Emeritus Professor (退休教授)
• Honorary Professor (名誉教授), usually awarded to academics with important social contributions
• Distinguished Professor (特聘教授), usually awarded to academics with a recognized achievement in research
• Guest professor, or commonly visiting professor (客座教授), usually awarded to distinguished visiting scholars

Administrative ranks

• Secretary of the CPC Committee (党委书记), similar to Chancellor, who usually does not take administrative responsibilities
• Associate Secretary of the CPC Committee (党委副书记), similar to Vice-Chancellor; the 1st order Associate Secretary is usually appointed President, with other Associate Secretaries being the Vice-President
• President (校长), taking the major decision for academic and administrative affairs, assisted by Vice-Presidents
• Vice-president (副校长), usually taking the responsibility of a certain area, e.g. academic, administrative, facilities, finance, etc.
• Dean (院长/所长)
• Deputy dean or associate dean (副院长/副所长) of schools and faculties
• Director of research centre (部长/主任) and director of academic department (系主任)