Abstract: This study traces the career trajectories of 2 546 top administrators at 77 public universities in Beijing between 1978 and 2018. The data is analyzed by applying the vacancy chain model as well as the log-linear model to explore the personnel mobility of top administrative positions at universities which are affiliated to different ministries and local government （referred to as Tiao-Kuai， with Tiao indicating vertical lines of authority from top down and Kuai indicating horizontal levels of authority of the territorial government）， and the personnel mobility between the universities and other governmental organizations. Chinese public universities are structured under a stratified system of ministerial and provincial level universities. The structural characteristics and trends of personnel mobility of these different positions are compared. The study finds that the vacancy chain of top administrative positions at Beijing public universities is relatively short， indicating that exchanges of personnels between universities and government offices are quite frequent. However， top university administrators normally only move around within the universities belonging to the same ministry（Tiao）， or universities affiliated to the local government （Kuai）. Exceptions are rare. It is also noticed that the personnel mobility among the universities under the Ministry of Education is lower than that of the universities under the Beijing municipal government or other government ministries. Nearly half of the presidents and Party secretaries at Beijing public universities are appointed from people within the same university （insiders）. The rest are from superior administration， or other universities belonging to the same government offices. For the universities affiliated to the Ministry of Education， 40% of top administrators are insiders，and the rest 60% are recruited from different backgrounds. For the other ministerial universities， nearly half of top administrators are insiders，and about one quarter are from within the same ministry. For the Beijing municipal universities，30% of top leaders are insiders and one quarter come from other municipal universities. Due to the changes in the government cadre management rules and in the higher education administrative system， the patterns of Tiao-Kuai mobility and the mobility between universities and other government organizations do vary from time to time.

Key words: Tiao-Kuai mobility of university leaders, higher education administrative system, cadre management regulation, vacancy chain model, log-linear model