Abstract
Some contend that almost all universities follow institutional patterns derived from Western models and that all Asian universities are based on European academic models and traditions. However, the Chinese University 3.0 may be exceptional, demonstrating key characteristics of China’s scholarly tradition, though it has been strongly influenced by various Western models over the twentieth century. Taking a historical-cultural approach, this chapter constructs the concept of the Chinese University 3.0, investigating its key values and features and possible contributions in a global age. First, the chapter differentiates the three distinct stages of Chinese universities in history and looks into their institutional development and characteristics. Then, it focuses on the Chinese University 3.0 moving toward world-class status and mass higher education by reflecting on such core values and features as self-mastery and intellectual freedom, humanist (Zhi-Xing) mission, and institutional diversity (He’er Butong), to demonstrate how they differ culturally from the dominant Anglo-Saxon and American models but share some commonalities with the continental European and Japanese models of the university. The final section considers policy implications of the emerging Chinese model, its lessons for reform and practice, and its potential role in fostering vibrant democracies and global dialogue among civilizations in the future.
This chapter is developed from my following journal article with the permission from Springer: Li, J. (2012). World-class higher education and the emerging Chinese model of the university. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 42(3), 319–339.
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Notes
- 1.
Although China was never completely colonized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many of its parts, such as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, alongside some parts in Shanghai, Shandong Province and in the Northeast, were colonized by Japan, France, Germany, Portugal or the U.K.
- 2.
Xueji (The Theory of Education) is a classical Confucian essay from Liji (The Book of Rites) compiled two thousand years ago. The translation here is mainly mine, with adaptations from the following references: Chai, C., & Chai, W. (1965, trans. & eds.). The humanist way in ancient China: Essential works of Confucianism. New York: Bantam Books, Inc.; Gao, S. L. (2005). Xueji yanjiu [A study of Xueji]. Beijing: People’s Education Press; Gao, S. L. (1982). Xueji pingzhu [An annotation of Xueji]. Beijing: People’s Education Press; Wong, W. S. (1976). The Hsüeh Chi, an old Chinese document on education. History of Education Quarterly, 16 (2), 187–193; and Xu, D., & McEwan, H. (2016). Universal principles for teaching and learning: Xue Ji in the 21st century. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
- 3.
The term of Confucian or post-Confucian model is excellent in capturing the core feature of Chinese universities, but it seems inapplicable to fully reflect the bigger picture of the Chinese University 3.0 which is more inclusive in a global age.
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Acknowledgements
This chapter reflects on my long-time interest in the studies of Confucianism and Chinese universities and on my ongoing research projects on “China-Africa University Partnerships in Education and Training: Students, Trainees, Teachers and Researchers” funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund (RGC/GRF Ref.: CUHK842912) and “World-class Universities, Publication and Research Assessment: Rethinking the Mission of Higher Education in the Global Age” funded by the Research Development Fund of Worldwide Universities Networks (RDF/WUN Ref.: 4930217). Further reflections are available from my monographs Xuan Ru Fo Dao Jiaoyu Lilun Bijiao Yanjiu (A Comparative Study of Educational Theories of the Schools of Metaphysics, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) (Wenjin Press, 1994), Jiaoyuxue Zhi (A History of Chinese Thought on Education) (Shanghai People’s Press, 1998), and Quest for World-Class Teacher Education? A Multiperspectival Approach on the Chinese Model of Policy Implementation (Springer 2016). With this opportunity, I thank very much the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback for the revision of the manuscript. I bear sole responsibility for its contents, however.
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Li, J. (2016). The Chinese University 3.0 in a Global Age: History, Modernity, and Future. In: Chou, C., Spangler, J. (eds) Chinese Education Models in a Global Age. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 31. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0330-1_2
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