A Study on the Pathways of Self-Cultivation among Young University Faculty: A Deep Case Analysis from the Field of Law

Abstract

In the context of ongoing reforms aimed at strengthening China's higher education faculty, fostering effective self-cultivation mechanisms among early-career academics has become a strategic priority. This paper presents an in-depth longitudinal case study of a young legal scholar who successfully transitioned from an undergraduate background in English to becoming a doctoral supervisor in civil procedural law within a decade. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, archival documents, and reflective narratives collected over ten years, the study identifies a co-driven developmental mechanism shaped by the interplay of internal motivation and external support. Internally, a clear professional vision, sustained growth in self-efficacy, and strategic cross-disciplinary knowledge integration served as core drivers. Externally, institutional policy incentives, access to international academic platforms, and participation in professional communities provided critical scaffolding. Building on these insights, we propose an integrated four-dimensional self-cultivation pathway-comprising goal orientation, competency enhancement, resource support, and evaluative feedback-as a practical framework for supporting early-career faculty development. The findings offer both theoretical contributions to non-Western understandings of teacher agency and actionable implications for university leadership seeking to optimize faculty development systems.