How much is a professor worth? It might help to know what professors are actually paid and how that figure compares with other salaries — and with the salaries of academics in other countries. But as Philip Altbach and his colleagues at the Center for International Higher Education discovered, such questions are a lot easier to ask than to answer.
大學(xué)教授價值幾何？想回答這個問題，可能需要了解大學(xué)教授的實際工資以及與其他職業(yè)的數(shù)據(jù)比較，當(dāng)然還有與其他國家學(xué)者工資的比較結(jié)果。美國芝加哥大學(xué)國際高等教育研究中心教授阿特巴赫及其同事的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，這樣的問題好問卻不好答。

In a new book, “Paying the Professoriate,” to be published this month, Mr. Altbach and his co-editors examine academic salaries, contracts and benefits in publicly funded universities in 28 countries. They depict a world increasingly divided “into two categories — brain drain and brain gain,” as countries with more resources siphon off academic talent from poorer countries. They also show a profession that in many countries is subject to a widening gap between professors at top research universities and those who work at colleges devoted mainly to teaching.
阿特巴赫教授的新書《大學(xué)教授薪酬面面觀》將于本月發(fā)布。在書中阿特巴赫教授和其他幾位合著者調(diào)查了學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域的工資水平，并且比較和分析了28個國家公立大學(xué)的工資水平和福利。他們的調(diào)查研究揭示了在世界范圍內(nèi)，隨著資源豐富的國家從較貧困的國家越來越多的吸收人才資源，學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域逐漸分化成兩種范疇：人才流失和人才引進。研究還顯示，不同國家的同一個職業(yè)，在頂尖高等大學(xué)工作的教授和主要負(fù)責(zé)教學(xué)的學(xué)院老師之間，薪資的差距也在逐漸拉大。

All currencies were converted into U.S. dollars using a purchasing power parity index based on the cost of a set of items in the United States. But they also compared salaries in each country with that country’s average per capita gross domestic product, giving a sense of how academics were paid in comparison to pay for compatriots in other jobs. Finally each of the 28 country teams was asked whether the average academic salary for that country was “sufficient to support a middle-class standard of living.”
所有的貨幣都換算成美元，但這里使用的美元并不是通俗意義上的“美元”，而指的是購買力平價指數(shù)，也就是教授工資在美國的購買力。不過研究也將各國的工資水平與該國的人均國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值進行了比較，用學(xué)術(shù)工資與其他工作的薪酬差距做一個參照。最后，參與研究的28個國家小組成員還會被問到該國的平均學(xué)術(shù)工資是否“足夠支持中等家庭的生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”。

In terms of purchasing power, newly hired academics in China ($259 per month, as calculated by this particular study’s index) were the worst off, paid less than colleagues in Armenia ($405) or Ethiopia ($864). Academics in Canada, where the entry level salaries averaged $5,733, and full professors were paid an average of $9,485, had more cause for celebration than in the United States, where newly hired faculty members averaged $4,950 and full professors $7,358.
在購買力方面，中國初級教師的工資條件最差（根據(jù)研究的指數(shù)計算每月只有259美元），比亞美尼亞（405美元）和埃塞俄比亞（864美元）的工資水平都要低。加拿大的教師最富足，初級工資平均為5733美元，正教授的平均工資為9485美元。加拿大教授工資水平甚至高于美國：在美國初級教師的平均工資為4950美元，正教授為7358美元。

“We wanted to get an international perspective,” said Mr. Androushchak, one of the book’s co-editors. Although Russians continue to be awarded Nobel prizes — and to launch rockets — the country’s academic institutions consistently fare poorly in international rankings. “We wanted to know what developed countries paid their academics, as well as developing countries and the other BRICS,” he said, referring to the emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
新書的另一位合著者Androushchak 先生表示：“我們的研究想要有一個國際性的觀察視角?！?雖然俄羅斯人持續(xù)獲得諾貝爾獎、發(fā)射火箭，但在國際排名中該國學(xué)術(shù)機構(gòu)的工資水平卻一直都很低廉。他表示：“我們想了解更多關(guān)于發(fā)達國家、發(fā)展中國家和其他金磚五國的教授薪酬水平”。這里的金磚五國指的是巴西、俄羅斯、印度、中國和南非五個經(jīng)濟快速發(fā)展的國家。

全球教師工資前五名（單位：美元）

國家 初級工資 平均工資 最高工資
加拿大? 5733 7196 9485
意大利 3525 6955 9118
南非 3927 6531 9330
印度 3954 6070 7433
美國 4950 6054 7358

全球教師工資后五名（單位：美元）

國家 初級工資 平均工資 最高工資
亞美尼亞 405 ? 538 ?665
俄羅斯 433 617 910
中國 259 720 ?1107
埃塞俄比亞 864 1207 1580
哈薩克斯坦 1037 1553 2304