Wang Xiaojian, a retired professor from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, was photographed forcibly kissing two female students at a restaurant on October 13. Photo: 163.com

For those pursuing a doctorate or master's degree, reporting an academic advisor for sexual harassment could mean having to start a thesis from square one.

If a teacher is removed, punished or ousted publicly for sexual harassment, graduate students can face the lengthy process of finding another advisor and starting new research.

"So the best way is to pray that your advisor is a friendly and disciplined scholar," said Li Jiahua, a second-year doctoral student in Beijing.

China's Ministry of Education on October 9 issued a guideline "building sound mechanism of college teachers' ethics," which not only addresses sexual harassment laws, but also "improper" relationships between teachers and students.

This is the first time China's top education authority issued such a ban.

While the guideline does not define "improper relationships," analysts suggest the phrase implies an exchange of academic favors for sex - which has become an increasingly common occurrence on Chinese college campuses in recent years.

College teachers, especially professors with administrative positions, are able to entice college students with their ability to assign grades, allocate research funding and write recommendation letters.

"Academic fraud, corruption and lack of supervision of teachers in colleges are reasons behind the improper relationships and sexual harassment," Lao Kaisheng, an education expert at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times.

Surprisingly, few Chinese universities have policies in place that clearly state teachers are not allowed to sexually harass  students, said Lao.

"Teachers are seen as the representatives of knowledge and nobility in China."

But recent cases indicate that college teachers need supervision as much as other authorities.

Sexual history

The guideline promised sanctions for those who break the rules.

Wu Chunming, a history professor at Xiamen University in Fujian Province, was expelled from the Party and had his teaching qualifications revoked for abusing his position and having sex with female students.

The case, first exposed by an anonymous Sina Weibo user in July, became the subject of a nationwide debate.

Wu was accused of approaching numerous students with offers of thesis supervision and recommendations for postgraduate or doctoral studies.

During a three-month investigation, the doctoral advisor admitted to having sex with students but said he could not remember how many, reported the Fujian-based Strait Herald.

A student who claimed to have been sexually harassed by Wu later told Shanghai-based Dragon TV that Wu had asked her for sex while holding a condom in his office.

"I reported his behavior to school authorities, but they did not take action and Wu became more aggressive," the student said.

In another case, Wang Xiaojian, a retired art professor from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, was photographed forcibly kissing two female students at a campus restaurant on October 13.

The photo went viral and was confirmed by the institute, which later denied the teacher of all benefits.

Li Furui, a women's rights activist in Xiamen, recently collected nearly 300 signatures petitioning Xiamen University to establish rules to prevent teaching personnel from sexually harassing students.

"I was surprised that so many came to me about their awful experiences," Li told the Global Times.

While a significant number of female students have been approached by professors at the school, few cases got reported. Many times, the student is either too embarrassed or the school, viewing their staff as assets, protects the teacher, Li said.

Under the guideline, colleges are permitted to determine their own policies on student-teacher relationships, said Wang Tianding, director of the journalism department of Xi'an International Studies University, who has also been pushing for a mechanism to prevent sexual harassment.

While teachers are often seen as taking advantage of students, many times it is the student that takes the initiative.

Love on campus

For many students and teachers, a formal date between adults does not constitute an "improper relationship."

A Chinese graduate student who is currently studying in Australia told the Global Times about her relationship experience with a professor in China.

"We were together and he helped me not only with my tests, grades and papers, but also wrote recommendations for my postgraduate application," said the student surnamed Huang.

Huang thought it was okay since "we did love each other" and the teacher was not married. Huang only began to feel uncomfortable when her teacher nominated her, rather than another more deserving student in her class, for a school scholarship.

"In fact, schools should also have policies prohibiting teachers dating students, as it often results in a conflict of interest," Wang said.

But most college teachers agreed that the new guideline does not apply to formal dates.

"They are trying to deal with coerced sex rather than the sincere love between two adults," a college teacher surnamed Chu at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics told the Global Times.

Chu, however, is not optimistic with how effective the guideline will be. "Things won't change. Those who are afraid to report their teachers will still not report them, and those who want to exchange sex for benefits will still continue."

According to Lao's study, most cases of "improper relationships" and sexual harassment occur between thesis advisors and their students, especially those pursuing doctoral degrees, as those professors usually wield more power over the research funding and paper publishing necessary to advance a student's academic career.

"If [my thesis advisor's] reputation was tarnished or teaching qualifications were revoked, I might not be able to finish my degree. So even there is a policy banning that, I doubt the number of people would really speak up," Li, the PhD student, said.

All teachers interviewed by the Global Times said their universities do not have any regulations clearly banning student-teacher relationships.

The key to solving the problem lies in decentralizing teacher's power and building up a supervision system, said Xiong Bingqi, an education expert and vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Shanghai.

Students should be granted more rights to participate into school administration and teacher supervision, Xiong said.

Cao Siqi contributed to this story