Hiring excellent faculty candidates to the SEM is not the destination; it is just the start of the faculty’s career journey. The SEM values the development of the faculty’s full potential. The school has a whole set of methods in place for faculty’s continuous career development, including trainings, seminars, workshops and appraisals, etc. The detailed policies are listed below:
1. Since 2010, the USTB required the new faculty to have a two-year probation period. In the two years, they can learn how to teach and have more time to do their research because they are assigned for a lower teaching load. New faculty are required to attend various faculty trainings. Upon the completion of the training modules and passing the exams, they can be officially hired by the school. They also need to show the ability of conducting high level research by publishing papers in recognized journals.
2. After officially hired by the school, each of the new faculty is assigned for a mentor. The mentors are normally very experienced professors who can guide the new faculty members both in their teaching and research works.
3. The SEM highly encourages the faculty to visit foreign universities for long and short term to gain experience from peer universities worldwide. Both the university and the school provide supporting funds for these activities and reduce their teaching load accordingly.
4. The school has a pool of funds just for faculty attending international conference and exchange, for example the school provides generous funding each year for each faculty to attend international meetings to present their research findings and papers.
5. The internal communication among the faculty within the school is highly valued and encouraged. For this purpose, the school sets up a coffee shop on the 12th floor of the building, they can share their teaching and research experience at the shop.
6. The SEM have a set of faculty academic development policies. The school provide the faculty with master degree that was hired a long time ago to apply for PhD programmes. The school provide funding support for their continuous education.
7. Currently the SEM does not have sabbatical policy, but the school highly encourages faculty to participate the long and short term visiting and exchange programmes in domestic and international institutions.
