Involution life in the ivory tower: a Chinese university’s teacher perceptions on academic profession and well-being under the Double First-class Initiative

Since 2015, China has been implementing a new key university construction plan known as the “Double First-class Initiative” to establish world-class universities and disciplines. It still needs to examine whether the reforms that universities have undergone in the context of this initiative have affected the academic profession and teachers’ well-being. The academic profession in China is currently undergoing “involution,” which suggests that academic staff are experiencing fierce but unhealthy competition. Based on a case study of a province-level university selected for the Double First-class Initiative, this paper examines the professional behaviors and well-being of case university’s teachers through 19 semi-structured in-depth interviews. In addition, the case university’s personnel system reforms, such as the performance-based pay and tenure-track system, were reviewed. It was found that these reforms have had a significant influence on the teachers’ professional behaviors and well-being. Therefore, under the new excellence initiative, Chinese universities must guard against teachers’ excessive occupational burdens and physical and mental issues while seeking academic excellence and ensuring high rankings.