Abstract

Higher education is the locomotive of a country’s development. The breeding of qualified manpower and the nation’s research inventions rely on higher education. However, the compensation of university professors in Taiwan is relatively low compared to that in the developed countries in American and Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and key universities in China. In Taiwan, all public instructors (including university professors, high and elementary school teachers) are compensated in accordance with the same pay schedule called the “Salary Rank of Public School Instructors and Teaching Assistants” and the respective “Academic Research Stipends” made by the Ministry of Education. As a result, the compensation of a university professor is not substantially different from that of elementary and high school teachers at the same age. Nevertheless, the pension payments of professors are lower than that for elementary and high school teachers due to shorter service periods. This study simulates three scenarios for an undergraduate who plans to enter the educational industry. The decision criterion is the NPV (Net Present Value) of his/her lifetime compensations for being a university professor, high school teacher or an elementary school teacher. The results of this study show that the NPV of a university professor’s lifetime compensations is far less than that of a high or an elementary school teacher at same retirement age. Specifically, a university professor studying abroad has the lowest NPV for his life-time compensations if he/she services in a university in Taiwan.  

Keywords

professor’s compensationteacher’s compensation systemspension