Recently, the topic of opening up college campuses has once again aroused heated discussions in the society. On January 2, the Ministry of Education issued the "Letter on the Reply to the Proposal No. 04329 (No. 428 for Education) of the First Meeting of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference", which clearly stated that the opening of university campuses to the public is of positive significance, which is conducive to the better integration of universities into society and serving the society.
Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters in Beijing, Guangdong, Chongqing and other places found that many colleges and universities are gradually opening to the public in an orderly manner, and people from outside the school can enter the school by making an appointment to register, swiping their ID cards, etc. However, some colleges and universities have implemented a system of approval for teachers and students, relatives and friends to enter and leave the campus, or only release a small number of visiting places, and there are still barriers for ordinary citizens and tourists to enter the campus, and the gap between the progress of campus opening and public expectations is prominent.
How big should the doors of colleges and universities be open to the society?How to strike a balance between ensuring normal teaching and learning order and responding to public expectations?The interviewed teachers, students, citizens and experts suggested that we should continue to improve the level of campus management and governance, open the doors of colleges and universities conditionally, explore the concept of creating a more open school, and better play its social service function.
The "conditional opening" of colleges and universities has gradually become a trend.
Since 2020, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, many colleges and universities have implemented closed management to protect the health of teachers and students, and tightened the access of off-campus personnel. After the transition of epidemic prevention and control, some colleges and universities gradually opened their doors to the public, while others still strictly controlled the entry gates.
The reporter learned from the interview that at present, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, Sun Yat-sen University, Southwest University and other colleges and universities have clearly opened their campuses to the public. According to their own actual conditions, major colleges and universities have formulated relevant management regulations for visitors to the campus, so as to ensure the normal teaching order while improving the degree of openness.
For example, Jinan University does not have a limit on the number of visitors, and off-campus personnel can enter the campus after filling in the reason for entering the school, identity and other information to obtain the "visitor admission code".Beijing University of Foreign Chinese does not need to make an appointment in advance, and visitors can enter the campus with their second-generation resident ID card and after passing the turnstile to brush their faces and complete the **face verification.
Although it is open to the public, we feel relieved that the school has built a triple guarantee. Zeng Yue, a sophomore at the School of Journalism and Media of Southwest University, said that at present, people outside the school need to verify their names to enter the school, and off-campus vehicles need to be registered by appointment, and the speed limit must be strictly limited after entering the school, and the study and life of students on campus are still as usual.
Su, a second-year student at Hunan University, told reporters that because the school is located in the Yuelu Mountain Scenic Area, the number of tourists and social vehicles has increased significantly during the tourist season, but the card needs to be swiped to enter and exit the teaching building, library and other places, and the teaching order will not be greatly affected. She believes that completely opening the school gate may cause certain safety risks, and the campus can be moderately opened to the outside world under conditions such as restricting the flow of people and vehicles and making appointments.
In response to the question of whether university campuses should be open to the public, Jiang Cunyu, director of the safety and security department of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education, said that closure and partition are the "exceptional" state caused by the epidemic, and closure may reduce some management costs, but management cannot override openness, and it is necessary to force the improvement of campus precision and fine management capabilities in the opening.
At present, many colleges and universities have explored a conditional opening model. Yang Shangdong, executive director and associate professor of the Public Law Research Center of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, believes that colleges and universities undertake the task of scientific research and teaching, and need to take restrictive measures to provide a suitable environment for teachers and students to study and live, ensure the safety of teachers and students, and realize interaction with society by limiting the number of visitors, visiting hours, and open areas, which is a way to achieve a balance between management and openness.
The openness of the campus is not high, and it is difficult to meet social expectations.
Now that the epidemic has passed, why can't residents enter the campus anymore?Recently, there have been many popular posts on social platforms about the opening of colleges and universities, and many citizens and tourists have posted that they have been "turned away" when they walk to the school gate, and they feel very puzzled.
The reporter visited a number of colleges and universities in Beijing, Guangdong and Chongqing and found that at present, some colleges and universities are only open to alumni to enter the school, although some colleges and universities implement the appointment system, but the approval power is in the hands of teachers and students on campus, or only a small number of places to visit are fixed, and ordinary citizens and tourists are still "hard to find" if they want to enter the school.
Ms. Liu, a Beijing resident, said that she used to take her children for a walk at a university near her home, but in recent years, the school has been closed, and nearby residents have lost a good place to relax. She said helplessly: "I have observed that the vast majority of citizens and tourists are very well-behaved and have not caused trouble to the campus life of teachers and students. On the contrary, in recent years, there has been chaos at the gate of some schools, and making appointments has become a tool for some people to make money. ”
Mr. Huang, a citizen of Guangzhou, likes to travel with his children on weekdays, and every time he goes to an unfamiliar city, what he looks forward to most is to go to local colleges and universities, but now some colleges and universities are not open to the public, which makes Mr. Huang feel very distressed. "Basically, every school needs to make an appointment in ***, if you are lucky, you can make an appointment one day in advance, and some schools will only have a place after 5 days, and you need to fight to 'grab the number'. ”
Ma Liang, a researcher at the National Institute of Development and Strategy at Chinese University and a professor at the School of Public Administration, believes that the current "limited" opening up of some universities has actually increased the cost of universities and social visitors.
For universities, the investment in approval, personnel, technology and other aspects continues to increase, which is an obvious cost. However, social visitors will encounter hidden cost increases, and they need to inquire about the policies of major universities in advance and make targeted appointments. Some popular colleges and universities even need to make an appointment a week in advance, so that the public can walk to the school gate but eat 'closed', which is not conducive to the construction of a positive image of the university. Ma Liang said.
In addition to the social call for colleges and universities to open up, college students are also eager to visit other colleges and universities. The reporter saw on multiple social platforms that many college students posted "shake people", hoping to help other college students review each other's admission to the school, and many netizens in the comment area enthusiastically "took orders".
A good university has no walls, and I would like to see characters other than teachers and classmates on campus, because in the past, when the campus was fully open, there was a lot of 'fireworks' in the school. Campus resources should also be shared with the society, such as lectures by famous teachers, and knowledge should have public attributes. Zheng, a second-year graduate student at Sun Yat-sen University, said.
Expert: Increase openness and prevent the creation of "invisible walls".
Should the doors of colleges and universities be open to the public?In this regard, many experts and scholars support an open attitude.
Yang Shangdong introduced that Article 32 of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Guarantee of Public Cultural Services" stipulates that the state encourages and supports the cultural and sports facilities of organs, schools, enterprises and institutions to be open to the public.
The Higher Education Law stipulates that the three major functions of China's colleges and universities are teaching, scientific research, and social services. While undertaking the task of scientific research and teaching, colleges and universities also shoulder certain social responsibilities, and as a social knowledge dissemination center, they cannot completely adopt closed management. Yang Shangdong said.
Ma Liang said that most of China's colleges and universities are public universities, which are financed by the state and should play a good role in social servicesStudents also need to experience the operation of society on the university campus, and treat adult college students as "greenhouse flowers", which is not conducive to their growth and success.
In view of the gap between the current openness of colleges and universities and the expectations of the public, the interviewed experts and scholars suggested that colleges and universities should focus on "practicing internal skills", explore and create a more open school-running concept, institutional mechanism and organizational form, and inject new vitality into the high-quality development of education.
Behind the opening of colleges and universities, it carries the school-running system and philosophy of a school. The opening of the campus gate should not depend on the size of external driving forces such as society, but should be provided by the internal driving force of the university's own school-running philosophy. Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Education Sciences, believes that education authorities and colleges and universities should change their thinking and promote the opening of campuses in an orderly manner.
A number of experts believe that colleges and universities should gradually improve the degree of openness and continuously improve their precise and fine management capabilities.
Yang Shangdong suggested that colleges and universities should continue to optimize the system of campus access management, open to the outside world in an orderly manner, pay attention to the opening hours and areas, such as during the teaching task should be limited, and some specific campus areas such as teachers and students living areas should not be open to the public.
Ma Liang said that the opening can be carried out step by step, first to realize the exchange of teachers and students of major universities across the country to visit the campus, followed by the phased opening of the campus of each university, first open the campus gate, the university buildings such as libraries, teaching buildings and other "small doors" in the future, how to open, can be explored in an orderly manner.
The opening up of colleges and universities is not only open in the physical sense, but more importantly, it should also establish a deeper level of resource sharing and knowledge sharing with the outside world to prevent the creation of 'invisible walls'. Yang Shangdong said. (Reporter Zhou Siyu, Yang Shuxin, Zhao Xu).
*: Xinhua Daily Telegraph.