Since the Great Wall research team of the School of Architecture of Tianjin University launched the "3D image collection project of the whole line of the Great Wall", outdoor hiking, driving four-wheeled off-road vehicles, and operating drones have ......These contents become the daily routine of researchers. At the beginning of 2023, the research team completed the "Discovering the Great Wall between Virtual and Reality: An Exhibition of Great Wall Research and Digital Achievements of Tianjin University", which not only provided support for the protection and monitoring of the Great Wall, but also presented the real and complete historical value and cultural connotation of the Great Wall. Xinhua News Agency.
A publication on the cover of Fudan University's scientific research achievements on display at the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Exhibition. Xinhua News Agency.
Building a strong country in education, written talk on education].
1.Chinese modernization requires universities to play a good game of chess in the midst of change.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that Chinese-style modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, which has the common characteristics of the modernization of all countries and Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. This is an incisive summary of socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. According to classical modernization theory, modernization is usually divided into first-mover endogenous modernization and late-mover exogenous modernization, which has also become a typical paradigm for analytical modernization. It is worth noting that sometimes a country's modernization as a whole is a latecomer exogenous, but it cannot be denied that it may be a first-mover endogenous type in a certain area or aspect.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward from the perspective of implementing the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education and strengthening the support of talents for modernization, that education, science and technology, and talents are the basic and strategic support for building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. We must adhere to the principle that science and technology are the primary productive forces, talent is the first resource, and innovation is the first driving force, thoroughly implement the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, and the strategy of innovation-driven development, open up new fields and new tracks for development, and constantly shape new momentum and new advantages for development. The four "new" of new fields, new tracks, new kinetic energy, and new advantages mean that we must play a good first move and grasp the initiative in the wave of change, which obviously has endogenous significance.
We should thoroughly implement the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with qualified personnel, and the strategy of innovation-driven development, and make overall arrangements for the integration of education, science and technology, and qualified personnel. Therefore, the innovation-driven development strategy is the foothold of the national development strategy. For the modernization of China's higher education, innovation-driven means that the construction mode of higher education modernization should be transformed by the times, that is, to innovate the development model of higher education modernization from an endogenous perspective, which is highly consistent with "opening up new fields and new tracks for development, and constantly shaping new development momentum and new advantages". This puts forward a proposition of the times: where is the new field and new track of the modernization of contemporary China's higher education? How should we open up new fields and new tracks for the modernization of higher education, and constantly shape the new momentum and new advantages of China's higher education modernization?
In order to answer this proposition of the times, we first need to understand the relationship between the four "new" aspects of the modernization and development of higher education. The following relationships are involved: the relationship between new fields and new tracks, the relationship between new momentum and new advantages, and the relationship between two pairs. In fact, "new" is a relative concept and a comparative concept. For example, a new field can be in its own sense or in a broader sense, the former is new in relation to one's past and present, but not necessarily new in relation to others, and the latter is new in comparison with others, and in this sense this "new" is "unprecedented" for everyone. For the development of higher education modernization, the new field in its own sense means learning from it, opening up education to the outside world, broadening its horizons and being inclusive, while the new field in a broader sense is more endogenous. From the perspective of opening up new fields and new tracks, it mainly refers to the latter, that is, to open up original fields in a broader sense, so as to take the lead at the start of this new track and realize the shaping of new kinetic energy and new advantages.
The common characteristics, Chinese characteristics, and significance of Chinese modernization have pointed out an important path for "opening up new fields and new tracks for development, constantly shaping new development momentum and new advantages", and promoting the modernization of China's higher education, namely: cross-integration and creation of common characteristics; Rooted in the soil, highlighting Chinese characteristics; Technological change shapes the significance of the times.
2.Cross-integration, creating common characteristics.
The meaning of creation is not simply following or imitating existing common characteristics, but more importantly, generating common characteristics through innovative development paths. This is consistent with the endogenous nature of contemporary China's educational modernization. Since the third scientific and technological revolution in the 20th century, the disciplines have shown a highly comprehensive and highly differentiated development trend, especially with the advent of the fourth scientific and technological revolution, the high degree of interdisciplinary integration has become a significant common feature of the development of disciplines in contemporary universities, and has also created a new field and new track for the development of higher education.
Interdisciplinary integration, on the one hand, should be oriented to the major needs of the country, especially focusing on the major national scientific and technological fields to achieve breakthroughs from 0 to 1; On the other hand, it is necessary to follow the internal laws and academic logic of the development of the discipline.
The first is to strengthen organized scientific research in colleges and universities, constantly improve the new first-class system aimed at key breakthroughs in scientific and technological innovation, strengthen national strategic scientific and technological forces, and promote scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance. Organized scientific research is mainly aimed at key core technologies, that is, "stuck neck" technology to carry out research, improve the new system of key core technology research, the core is to carry out organized scientific research, concentrate superior forces, optimize mechanisms, and coordinate research. Disciplines need to be built in an organized manner, and key core technologies need to have a solid discipline accumulation, which is also the advantage of universities in undertaking scientific and technological research tasks.
The second is to promote the reform of grassroots academic organizations and evaluation mechanisms. With the new trend of cross-integration of disciplines and specialties brought about by the new scientific and technological revolution, the academic organization system of colleges and universities is also changing, and some new forms of academic organization systems have begun to appear, such as in some universities, hubs, academic domains, etc. are replacing traditional colleges and departments, which has no precedent in the world, and the internationally popular project leader system is also widely popular in grassroots academic organizations in universities. In fact, in order to maintain the stability of discipline development, and to facilitate interdisciplinary integration and collaboration, it is urgent to break through the existing organizational form, explore the construction of a matrix academic organizational structure, decentralize power, and enhance the autonomy and flexibility of comprehensive research institutions. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the assessment of scientific research achievements, solve the problems of re-establishment of projects in previous scientific research projects without focusing on achievement assessment, and the "one-size-fits-all" acceptance cycle; On the other hand, it is necessary to scientifically and rationally evaluate the contributions of members, establish an evaluation mechanism for cooperation and sharing results, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of members to participate in organized scientific research.
3.Rooted in the soil, highlighting Chinese characteristics;
From the perspective of the history of the modernization of China's higher education, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a higher education system has been built that is deeply influenced by Chinese cultural traditions, political ideology, and national needs, such as a unified national college entrance examination system, a higher teacher education system, and an industry-based university development system. These higher education systems with Chinese characteristics are important manifestations of China's higher education modernization, which have made unique contributions to the country's modernization and still show their vitality today.
At present, it is an important path for China's higher education to build world-class universities with Chinese characteristics. To take root in the land of China is to build a world-class university with Chinese characteristics based on local genes. Only by taking root in the land of China and based on local genes can we have Chinese characteristics in the true sense and effectively form and transform into a powerful force to promote the construction of a world-class university. The key to the theme and direction of "world-class with Chinese characteristics" established by the "double first-class" construction lies in seeking a high degree of internal harmony and consistency between Chinese characteristics and world-class, and is embodied in the two aspects of Chinese characteristics to represent world-class and Chinese characteristics to achieve world-class. The characterization of world-class Chinese characteristics can be understood from the following two perspectives: first, Chinese characteristics conform to the factual characteristics of world-class, and second, Chinese characteristics conform to the conceptual characteristics of world-class. The achievement of world-class with Chinese characteristics mainly involves the choice of the path of "double first-class" construction, that is, to promote the modernization of China's higher education by following the development path with Chinese characteristics, and to make some universities develop into world-class universities. In this sense, Chinese characteristics are not only a development resource for higher education, but also a development strategy.
It is worth pointing out that the world-class with Chinese characteristics of the "double first-class" construction is not the same thing as the definition of world-class with Chinese characteristics, let alone the simplification of the definition of world-class in China, and finally evolve into "self-talk"; At the same time, taking the road of "double first-class" construction with Chinese characteristics does not mean that there is no need to learn from the advanced experience of the world's first-class universities and first-class disciplines in the world, let alone rejecting these advanced experiences, but we must adhere to the combination of Chinese characteristics and integration with China and foreign countries. It is highly consistent with the reality of China's higher education development.
4.Technological change shapes the significance of the times.
The technological leadership in the digital era has given rise to disruptive innovation in many fields, promoted the second modernization of society, and accelerated the modernization of higher education. Digital manufacturing and "Industry 4."0" is changing the relative profitability of capital investment and labor investment, and this new demand for human capital triggered by economic changes with technology preferences has become a central topic in the discussion of the future of employment. Driven by various factors such as economic change and employment pressure, non-traditional students have gradually become the largest growth point in the scale of higher education, giving rise to the demand for personalized learning. Driven by market demand, a large number of Internet companies and traditional education and training institutions have aimed at the new "blue ocean" of education, and continue to squeeze the living space of colleges and universities through new forms of education such as personalization and customization. Higher education institutions must open up new paths to break through the outdated talent training pattern and service methods, and make higher education more open, diverse, inclusive and lifelong, which is an important direction for the modernization of higher education in the digital era.
At the same time, digital technology has great potential to transform education. At present, the digital innovation practices of higher education, such as the first-class degree, the open badge learning achievement certification, the "Open Loop University" of Stanford University, and the O2O education system of Minerva Schools, continue to demonstrate the high consistency between the openness and sharing mechanism of digital technology and the modernization and innovation development of higher education. This high degree of consistency continues to shape the modernization of higher education's concepts, goals, systems, systems, contents, methods, and governance in the new era, and continues to enrich its relationship connotation.
Digital technology can provide more personalized education to more people at a lower cost, but technology cannot break through the hidden walls of education, which are the historical products of institutions and habits. At present, technology has triggered profound changes in society, but it still wanders on the fringes of schools, which also reflects the incompatibility between the existing education system and technological innovation. In the face of the huge impact of self-learning and evolutionary artificial intelligence, it is urgent to digitally transform education and lead the modernization of higher education, and its important purpose is to break the rigid pattern of traditional education with the help of the innovative power of digital technology, and build an open, fair and high-quality modern education system that seamlessly connects school education and social education, formal learning and informal learning, and online learning and offline learning. A series of institutional transformations and reforms, such as degree management and even organizational structure, provide the foundation and guarantee for better playing the advantages of digital technology in contemporary education, so that education digitalization has truly become an important breakthrough for China to open up a new track for the development of higher education and shape the new advantages of higher education development, and provide effective support for personalized learning, lifelong learning and the sharing of high-quality educational resources.
Author: Lu Xiaozhong, a special researcher at the Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, a distinguished professor of "Changjiang Scholars" of the Ministry of Education, and the dean of the Institute for Advanced Study of Education Development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, South China Normal University