Xue Zhaofeng, a professor at Peking University, has been widely concerned recently because of more than 250,000 subscribers on the paid platform. However, relevant parties in Peking University confirmed to the Beijing Youth Daily reporter yesterday that Xue Zhaofeng is currently leaving his post for personal planning reasons.
Yesterday, Peking University confirmed that Mr. Xue Zhaofeng, now working in the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, is going through the process of resignation, which is due to personal planning reasons. Previously, Xue Zhaofeng opened a column on a knowledge payment platform, with over 250,000 subscribers and a total income of nearly 50 million.
Xue Zhaofeng was confirmed to leave.
According to Peking University, "Teacher Xue’s resignation is a particularly normal personnel flow". As for the reasons for leaving, Peking University said that "this belongs to Teacher Xue’s own personal plan".
The reporter of Beiqing Daily saw that Xue Zhaofeng is still in the "teaching staff" of official website, the National Development Research Institute of Peking University. According to the professor’s summary, Xue Zhaofeng is currently a professor of law and economics at the National Development Research Institute of Peking University and co-director of the Research Center of Law and Economics in Peking University. His educational experience includes being a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University School of Law and a doctor of economics at George Mason University. In summary, Professor Xue Zhaofeng’s research interests include price theory, law and economics, competition policy and e-commerce regulation and governance. The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned that at present, Xue Zhaofeng is a full-time teacher in Peking University, but he belongs to the employment system. In Peking University, there are not a few employed teachers.
Xue Zhaofeng knowledge payment platform subscribers exceed 250,000.
Xue Zhaofeng is a veritable "star professor". According to a knowledge payment platform, Professor Xue’s subscription column "Economics Course in Xue Zhaofeng" has more than 250,000 subscribers. The platform claims that this is the column with the largest number of users in the knowledge payment platform and even in the whole market. "It can also be said that users and Mr. Xue have jointly built the largest economics classroom in the world."
The reporter of Beiqing Daily saw on the payment platform yesterday that there are currently 250,931 people subscribing to the column "Economics in Xue Zhaofeng", and each person has to pay 199 yuan per year. According to this data, Xue Zhaofeng only earned 49.92 million yuan in this column. Earlier, an insider revealed that the platform was divided into 50-50 shares. According to this calculation, Xue Zhaofeng himself was divided into nearly 25 million.
Xue Zhaofeng said in this column, "Since 2010, I have been teaching two courses, Principles of Economics and Legal Economics, in Peking University every year. Now I will teach you the essence of these two courses by subscribing to the column. " In the introduction of the course, it is written that the course is an "audio+graphic" column, which is updated every Monday to Thursday, and the last year (February 20, 2017 to February 19, 2018) has been uninterrupted for 52 weeks. After consumers subscribe to the product at an annual fee, they can read all the contents produced in the column permanently, and there is no refund once the subscription is successful. The course modules of this course include: human nature and scarcity, the profound meaning of cost, the law of demand, the role of price, the structure of the company, etc. Finally, there are related exams.
In addition, Xue Zhaofeng has also commented on some hot topics on the Internet, such as "Free is the most expensive", "Raising the train ticket price to solve Spring Festival travel rush", "Online car-hailing platform solves the information asymmetry" and "The risk of Internet finance should be confirmed", which has greatly increased his popularity on the Internet.
Celebrity knowledge paid as a sideline?
At present, it is also common for some celebrities to open columns on the knowledge payment platform. Take Professor Xue’s platform as an example. At present, many professors and scholars are offering column courses at the same time, including Fu Peirong, head of philosophy department of Taiwan Province University, Wan Weigang, physicist, Wu Jun, computer scientist, Xiang Shuai, doctoral supervisor of finance department of Peking University, Ning Xiangdong, professor of management in Tsinghua University, He Fan, professor of HSBC Business School of Peking University, psychologist Wu Zhihong, etc. Their course prices are all 199 yuan/year, and once they subscribe successfully, they will not be refunded. At present, each of them has gained a large number of "students" by virtue of this platform. For example, Fu Peirong’s Western Philosophy Course has 20,000 subscribers, Wan Weigang’s Elite Day Course has 130,000 subscribers, Wu Jun’s Google Methodology has 60,000 subscribers, Xiang Shuai’s Peking University Finance Course has 120,000 subscribers, Ning Xiangdong’s Tsinghua Management Course has 140,000 subscribers, and He Fan’s.
Wan Weigang said in an interview earlier that "the paid column is to provide exclusive services to paying readers. Good research results, in addition to application value, also need to have communication value and enrich the public’s thoughts. " He also said that in order to get a good topic, he consulted a lot of American media information every day. "Sometimes I can’t find anything worth explaining in our column for two or three days." Every day, his column, from topic selection, research and development to writing, takes about seven or eight hours on average, not counting editing and audio recording time.
For knowledge payment, some readers think it’s worthwhile. "The economics major chosen in the university was missed by mistake, and now I finally have the opportunity to reread economics, and it’s still in the class of Professor Xue Zhaofeng of Peking University. It’s so cool." However, some readers think it’s a bit expensive. "It’s better to buy two classic economics textbooks to read them yourself for 199 yuan. Their fragmented speeches can’t establish a knowledge system, and many contents can be obtained without spending money, so it’s unnecessary."
You can work part-time on the premise of completing your job.
In November 2016, the General Offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Implementing the Distribution Policy Oriented to Increasing Knowledge Value", which mentioned that "researchers and teachers are allowed to work part-time and pay part-time according to the law". Specifically, researchers are allowed to take part-time jobs to obtain legal income. On the premise of fulfilling their duties and completing their own jobs, scientific researchers may, with the consent of their units, take part-time jobs in enterprises and other scientific research institutions, universities and social organizations and obtain legal remuneration. In principle, the remuneration obtained from part-time jobs belongs to individuals, and a reporting system for income such as equity and dividends obtained from part-time jobs is established.
However, it also stipulates that "scientific research institutions and universities should stipulate or agree with scientific researchers on the rights and obligations of part-time jobs, and implement a part-time publicity system for scientific researchers. Part-time jobs must not reveal the technical secrets of their own units, damage or occupy their legitimate rights and interests, and violate their social responsibilities." At present, Peking University has not responded to Professor Xue Zhaofeng’s part-time job on the paid knowledge platform.
Ni Shu, a senior science and technology commentator, told the reporter of Beiqing Daily, "The professor’s job is to generate knowledge and spread knowledge. Now it is a good thing that his knowledge has been spread through the cooperation of the platform." He further said that there is a premise that must be stated: he can make money in the market way, and from the way of view, it is the reward he got after he created value for users.
Luo Chao, a senior Internet analyst, believes that the essence of knowledge payment platform is sharing economy — — Sharing of knowledge. The greatest charm of the sharing economy lies in the release of individual energy, which not only gives individuals more opportunities to realize cash, but also has the opportunity to gain a broader life. For example, Professor Peking University can expand his "students" several times by entering the knowledge payment platform, and at the same time get considerable economic returns. Of course, not every professor can realize the content on the platform, which is closely related to his field. That is to say, Xue Zhaofeng, a professor at Peking University, is only a case, and not all university teachers can get similar returns through the knowledge payment platform.
Text/reporter Wen Wei