大學教育是國家發展之火車頭，高級人才之培育與研究發明均以是賴。然而台灣地區目前大學教授之待遇，不僅趕不上歐美先進國家，甚至亦比鄰近之香港、日本、韓國及大陸地區重點大學之實質薪資為低。台灣地區各級公立學校(包括大學、中學、小學)之教師待遇係由教育部統一按照「公立學校教師暨助教職務等級表」及大學教授與中小學教師分別之「學術研究費表」敘薪，同年齡之大學教授之月薪幾無異於中、小學老師之薪酬，但由於大學教授必須耗費長時間之教育投資以取得博士學位，因而進入職場時間較晚，退休年資較短，退休給付較少。本研究以一位欲進入教職之大學畢業生，利用「淨現值法」推算其選擇當大學、中學以及小學教師之一生所得淨現值，以探究何者為其擇職之最佳決策方案。研究結果發現，大學教授一生所得之淨現值，比同齡退休之中小學老師為低，尤以自費出國留學之大學教授其一生所得之淨現值為最低。

Higher education is the locomotive of a country’s development. The breeding of qualified manpower and the nation’s research inventions rely on higher education. However, the compensation of university professors in Taiwan is relatively low compared to that in the developed countries in American and Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and key universities in China. In Taiwan, all public instructors (including university professors, high and elementary school teachers) are compensated in accordance with the same pay schedule called the “Salary Rank of Public School Instructors and Teaching Assistants” and the respective “Academic Research Stipends” made by the Ministry of Education. As a result, the compensation of a university professor is not substantially different from that of elementary and high school teachers at the same age. Nevertheless, the pension payments of professors are lower than that for elementary and high school teachers due to shorter service periods. This study simulates three scenarios for an undergraduate who plans to enter the educational industry. The decision criterion is the NPV (Net Present Value) of his/her lifetime compensations for being a university professor, high school teacher or an elementary school teacher. The results of this study show that the NPV of a university professor’s lifetime compensations is far less than that of a high or an elementary school teacher at same retirement age. Specifically, a university professor studying abroad has the lowest NPV for his life-time compensations if he/she services in a university in Taiwan.