Behavior beyond classes

Individual interests

In Chinese campus culture, tutors are dubbed "bosses". Postgraduate students spend as much time as they can to help their supervisors with academic work as well as errands, Zuo said.

A supervisor has much say in whether his students can graduate or not because he is the first person who approves of their theses, Zuo said.

"An established professor often has lots of resources. He can recommend his students to companies or other universities after they graduate," he said.

"In this regard, a professor has a lot of opportunity to take advantage of students."

Students are certainly in a vulnerable position given their tutors' authority, said Gan Mantang, a sociologist at Fuzhou University in Fujian province.

But the campus sexual harassment cases making the headlines cannot be generalized, Gan said.

"It is common for a university student to have a crush on her teacher and it is acceptable that they have a relationship if both are single," Gan said.

"But if a university educator uses his power to coerce female students into relationships, that would be despicable," Gan said.

Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said Chinese education authorities must establish a system that will allow universities, teachers, students, students' relatives and media to actively supervise teachers' behavior.

"Education authorities should make public every case involving teachers with unethical behavior and effectively punish them, to help deter others", Xiong said.

"University students should also set up student committees to protect their interests," he said.