The case of a university lecturer from Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, who publicly slapped his dean has triggered widespread online debate over whether young Chinese intellectuals face campus corruption and unfair treatment in terms of salaries and promotions.

Gan Yang, 64, dean of the Liberal Arts College of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, was sent to hospital for a medical exam after he was slapped by young lecturer Li Siya on Thursday afternoon, said a statement posted on the college's website on Saturday.

Li allegedly hit the dean because he believed that the dean was behind the cancellation of teacher evaluations in October 2015, in which Li was supposed to have had a good chance to be promoted to associate professor, said the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

Such behavior completely violates the code of conduct and ethics required of a college teacher, read the university's online statement. Local police have launched an investigation into the incident, the statement added.

"No matter what the reason is, slapping shouldn't happen in an academic workplace, and the university will deal with the aggressor fairly," a staff member in the publicity department of Sun Yat-sen University told Guangzhou Daily.

Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at China National Institute for Educational Research who knew of Li through professional connections, told the Global Times on Sunday that Li had failed to secure a professorship through an evaluation  last March, even though his academic achievements obviously outstripped those of his competitors.

If a lecturer at Sun Yat-sen University fails to become an associate professor within nine years, he or she will be reassigned an administrative job or transferred to a position at one of the university's subordinate colleges, the Yangcheng Evening News reported.

It generally takes six or seven years for a lecturer to become an associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University, the newspaper said.

"Though hitting is certainly wrong, it is not rare in universities," Xiong Bingqi, dean of 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In 2014, news outlet hinews.cn - based in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province - reported that a 52-year-old professor at Hainan University received five months in jail for beating another professor.

Many academic commissions fail to solve academic disputes among teachers, as most of them are set up to serve administrative functions, added Xiong.

Chu added that many young teachers are under great pressure from intense competition for professorships, and administrative power very often interferes in evaluations, making them more than a clear competition of academic performance.