Recently, the Ministry of Education announced the 2021 National University Rankings, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion from all walks of life.
In this list, it is not difficult to find that the universities on the list are mainly well-known universities, but the increase in the top universities is relatively small.
The rankings of universities at Tsinghua University and Peking University have been relatively stable, while the rankings of midstream universities are greatly affected by policies and current events, and there are certain changes every year.
It is worth noting that there are more colleges and universities this year, and engineering colleges are the mainstay.
Of the 29 universities that rose in the rankings, 18 were engineering colleges.
Central South University, Soochow University, East China University of Science and Technology and other universities are particularly significant, of which Central South University has risen 12 places, Suzhou University has risen 12 places, and East China University of Science and Technology has risen 10 places.
This data makes people wonder whether the rise of engineering colleges represents an increasing demand for engineering talents, or whether the quality of engineering education has been broken and improved.
However, in contrast to the first universities, the first universities are mainly concentrated in liberal arts universities such as language, finance and economics, and politics and law.
Language universities generally fell by more than 10 places, while Capital Medical University fell by 13 places in medicine, and China University of Political Science and Law and China Foreign Affairs University, which are liberal arts universities, also fell by nearly 10 places.
This phenomenon seems to suggest that the decline in the rankings of liberal arts universities is relatively pronounced.
In this context, we can't help but wonder why engineering colleges and universities have been able to buck the trend while liberal arts colleges are facing the challenge of declining
Does it mean that the demand for science and engineering talents is gradually growing, while traditional liberal arts education is facing new challenges?
Or is it the development of disciplines and the change of educational philosophy that have led to such a phenomenon?
Perhaps, the changes in university rankings contain more deep-seated social phenomena and educational development trends.
This list is not only a ranking of rankings, but also a reflection of the society's demand and judgment for education.
Perhaps, we need to pay more attention and think about the changes in university rankings from a more rational and comprehensive perspective, and more deeply understand the development and future of education.