Not surprisingly in such an environment, modern university presidents are largely assessed on how much scientific research funding their university has won.

在这样的环境下，大学一年能拉到多少科研经费成为今天大学校长工作的重中之重，也就不足为怪了。

However, only two decades ago, the former president, then president of his university, said that he was more concerned with the quality of the education provided by his university than with financial considerations. He concluded that immediate action was necessary to redress the balance.

可就在20年前，这位昔日的校长关注的还是教学质量的提升，对于科研经费并没有概念。老校长表示，如今需要采取行动在二者之间取得平衡了。

"If money is the only consideration, both the education system and the country will be harmed," he said. "The education system should consider introducing reasonable salaries and making them public."

“一味钻进钱眼中肯定害了教育也害了国家。”他说，“在制度设计层面多考虑报酬的公开、合理总是应该的吧。”

However, according to some, merely publishing professors' salaries would only tell part of the story. One netizen who calls himself "Zhanzhangdaheng" wrote that, as a professor of bridge engineering, he earns 200,000 yuan (US$31,454, including duty allowance and bonuses), per year. He also receives an annual fund of around three million yuan (US$471,809) for his research subjects.

不过，也有网友回应，单纯地公开教授的薪酬只能说明部分问题。网友“站长大亨”称自己是一所大学的教授，专业是桥梁工程。每年制度内的收入20万元左右（当然还包括岗位津贴和奖金），课题经费平均每年300万元左右。

"It's not sufficient to see how much I earn," he wrote. "You should also be aware of how much effort I've put in. For almost ten years, holidays and weekends have been alien concepts to me."

“你不要看我钱多，但你知道我付出多少，我将近10年几乎从没有休假和周末的概念。”“站长大亨”说。

There are professors whose salaries are much lower. In general, they tend to work in traditional subjects for an average yearly salary of not less than 100,000 yuan (US$15,727).

拿得比较少的教授也有，就是一些传统学科，但这些教授平均年薪也不会少于10万元。

For netizen "xinr2010", money is just a symptom of an underlying problem. "The problem is not whether these professors are rich or poor, but the reason underlying the phenomenon," he wrote. "The most disappointing aspect is that professors who devote themselves to teaching and scientific research are poor; perhaps most infuriatingly, those who neither teach nor undertake scientific research are rich."

网友“xinr2010”则表示，钱只是一个表象，并非问题本质所在。“问题不在于教授的穷富，而是穷富的原因。最让人寒心的是认真教学、认真科研的同时也是穷教授；最让人愤怒的是不教学不科研的却是富教授。”

However, commentator Zhang Pengjie believes that it's unreasonable to keep all professors at the same income level. But he, like netizen "xinr2010", also feels there are wider issues involved. "If those professors are poor because their subjects are ignored and few tasks or programs are available for them, these things will need to be addressed," he said.

与网友“xinr2010”一样，时评作者张鹏杰也认为这里涉及到的问题远不止于此。不过，在他看来，教授收入没有理由必须步调统一、水平一致，“但是教授穷、教授苦，却是因为学科不受重视，缺课题，少项目，那就值得关注了。”