There was only one avenue for professional advancement: publishing in distinguished academic journals. In my time at HUFS I saw very few of my colleagues get any significant raise or promotion. The administration seemed primarily concerned with HUFS' rankings and reputation, so that publishing was prioritized far above teaching and curricula development. There was some support for foreign professors to publish, but I personally felt like this was inadequate. Also, in my experience, professors had little control over choice of textbook and often even which courses you'd teach. Decisions were made by administration, deans, etc. and handed down. There was very little room for dialogue, and it seemed like no one was willing to question higher authority. This was not a huge issue day to day because your classes were not directly observed (for example some colleagues elected to entirely abandon the "required" textbooks and were never penalized for doing so), but it did sometimes contribute to an atmosphere of powerlessness, fear, and dissatisfaction amongst my colleagues.
