Hong Kong actor Tony Leung talks with students during a movie promotion at Fudan University in Shanghai, Nov 10, 2011.[Photo/ynet.com]

A philosophy professor at Shangbai-based Fudan University voiced his disappointment and objection to the school's priorities after 35 of his students were authorized to skip class to serve as security for a film promotion, Chinese Business View reported Monday.

Zhang Qingxiong, the philosophy professor at one of China's top universities, issued a critical article on the university's academic committee website. Professor Zhang inquired into the decision made by the university to set celebrities as a priority above teaching.

The inquiry can be traced back to Nov 10 during a film promotion of The Great Magician, starring Hong Kong actors Tony Leung and Sean Andy, at the university.

On the afternoon of Nov 10, 35 armed police students of Zhang's class were asked by the student union to maintain order at the event. The students were not granted permission by the office of Academic Affairs and Department of Philosophy.

Zhang returned to the classroom to find that all his students had left except for the captain of the armed police students waiting to inform the professor of the reason for the class' absence.

Zhang was astonished and irritate. "Over the past years, I have never felt angrier than today," he said in his article.

Zhang voiced his discontent with students' changed attitude to academics, saying that they are now more focused on celebrities than academics, citing that the students in Fudan used to flock to the lectures of famous scientists, such the Chinese-born American Nobel laureate Tsung-Dao Lee.

Zhang said he wrote the critical article not to place blame but to try to alter the academic environment of the campus.