In late December 2024, Suzhou Middle School in Jiangsu Province (eastern China) attracted the attention of the country's online community when it announced its 2025 teacher recruitment list.

Good teachers must graduate from top schools?

Of the 13 newly hired teachers, six are graduates of Tsinghua University, four are from Peking University, eight have doctorates and five have masters degrees, according to Jiupai News . Notably, none of them have a degree in education. The decision has sparked much debate among the public and experts about the connection between academic reputation and teaching ability.

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The recruitment of a high school student from a top university to teach without a teaching degree has sparked controversy. Photo: Imaginechina Limited

Suzhou Secondary School has set very strict criteria in its teacher recruitment notice. Although priority is given to candidates with a doctorate degree, those with a master's degree will still be considered if they meet at least one of the following conditions: Winning at least 3 national scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies; receiving honorary titles at the provincial level or higher such as "Three Good Students" or "Excellent Students"; graduating from A-class universities under the "Building World- Class Universities" initiative; or winning third prize or higher in national high school Olympic competitions.

The decision to recruit only from top universities and ignore candidates with formal training in teaching has caused quite a stir.
According to Chinese experts, this trend stems from two main factors. First, graduates from prestigious universities often excel in written tests and interviews to become teachers. Meanwhile, candidates from teacher training colleges, despite having specialized training, find it difficult to compete at the same level.

Second, many schools prioritize recruiting graduates from prestigious educational institutions as a way to enhance their own prestige, in line with the social notion that students from top universities will produce top-performing students.

However, many Chinese social media users warned that academic prestige should not be equated with teaching ability.

“A PhD student who is good at scientific research is not necessarily a good teacher. Excellent students from teacher training colleges should be the first choice for admission. Don’t blindly worship academic qualifications,” one person commented.

Others believe that classroom management skills and effective teaching methods for students are the deciding factors for a teacher's success, not a prestigious university degree.

Increasing trend of PhDs teaching at secondary level

The phenomenon of highly qualified graduates, including PhDs, teaching in primary and secondary schools in China has begun to increase.

According to Xiong Bingji, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, this trend is becoming more common in cities such as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, where key high schools often require candidates to have a master's degree or higher for teaching positions.

“The demand for higher education comes from the widespread adoption of higher education. China now produces about 1 million postgraduates each year. That number is equivalent to the number of bachelors and college graduates in the 1990s,” explained Director Hung.

He also said that the upcoming revision of China's Teachers Law is expected to raise the minimum educational requirements for primary and middle school teachers to college level, and high school teachers may need a master's degree or higher.

A 2022 study by Wang Xiaoyan of the Guangdong Higher Education Association found that because China's job market is changing, doctoral students today are doing a variety of jobs, including teaching in high schools.

Employment reports from prestigious universities such as Tsinghua and Peking Universities have listed general education institutions alongside higher education, with enterprises and government agencies becoming one of the main career destinations for their postgraduate graduates.

A job posting for an "entry-level" position has angered netizens and been called a "joke" when it offered an income lower than the minimum wage but required candidates to have more than 3 years of experience and a master's degree preferred.