On the Problems and Strategies Addressed to theDevelopment of Local Colleges

閆昭旭

With the expanding of functions of universities,the traditional universities have been the centre of the society instead of"the ivory towers".In China,in the course of popularization of higher education,the reform of management system is going thoroughly.The central government delegate the management power to local government,at the same time,the local governments are running higher education with more initiative so as to further the economic and social development.Now among 1000 universities,local colleges have take up 70 percent.The development of local colleges is good.While compared with the famous and key universities,local colleges are in the dry tree.This article analyzes some development problems of local universities and then puts forward related solutions.

1 Analysis of the problems during the development

1.1 Orientation is going in for greatness or perfection

Nowadays,every nation knows that higher education plays critical role in the development of one's economy and society.The knowledge economy age is coming.In such background,people's needs for higher education are more urgent.The demanding standard of talents is gradually raised.People need higher level of education.The shrinking of technical secondary schools and junior colleges and the intense competition of postgraduates examinations are typical examples.In order to survive and develop,the high tide of“upgrading”emerges among local universities:junior colleges are going to be undergraduate colleges or universities,undergraduate colleges are going to start master education.The local colleges are all want to be “big”universities.In fact,however,the diversity for talents determines the variety of colleges and universities.Different colleges and universities are on different starting line.It is not necessary for them to develop hand-in-hand.The strategy of“do something and don't do something”is very important.Beijing University is Beijing University itself,Qinghua University is Qinghua University itself.They both have their long history and they have incomparable advantages.If local colleges go in for greatness without thinking of their present situation,they may decentralize their limited resources.Therefore,local colleges must think about their orientation according to their reality.

1.2 The disciplines have no unique features

The disciplines are carriers for the colleges and universities to cultivate talents,to carry on scientific research,and to serve the society.The level of disciplines determines the quality of their talents,the standard of their scientific study as well as their capability of serving the society.To some degree,the disciplines determine the survival and downfall of colleges and universities.Thus,modern colleges and universities are going out of their way to start hot specialties in spite of their own reality.From the advertisements of different colleges we can easily find that their disciplines are almost the same as those of famous universities.Local colleges start their disciplines at random,they don't think over the actual needs of the local society.Their disciplines are short of characteristics.

1.3 Local colleges are short of initiative of serving the society

Serving the society is one of the functions of colleges and universities.The forms of service are different,such as educational training,technical advice and conduct,cultural service and so on.Serving the society is the best way of linking theory with practice,it is also the way of checking the level of transferring knowledge to practical force.At the same time,by serving the society they may get financial support.American colleges and universities set up good examples in creating income themselves by serving the society.For example,the percentage of money from service in America in 1990 was 21.7,while in China it was not up to 10.The percentage of money from service of local colleges is much lower than that of big universities.

1.4 The quality of the teaching staff is weak.

In order to seek chances for development,local colleges pay great attention to importing and training talents with high education.However,such talents are more likely to go to regions of advanced economy.What's worse,some of the teachers sent out to study further run off after they got their higher degrees.The outflow of talent intensifies the gap in talents.The quality of the teaching staff is obviously a big problem.

2 Developing strategies for local colleges

As mentioned above,local colleges have lots of problems in their developing procedure.In the competitive society,if local colleges want to survive and improve,they first must know themselves.The saying“know yourself as well as the enemy,you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat”is surely the premise for our strategies.The followings are what we suggest.

2.1 Local colleges must have clear orientation

There are four meanings of orientation of running schools:hierarchical orientation (status among the higher education system);professional orientation; orientation of standard of talents and characteristic orientation of their schooling.The outline of China's education reform and development has already put forward that related policies should be set for determining the taxonomy of higher education according to different regions,professions and schools.By doing so,different colleges or universities may have their own clear aims and they can fully show their own features.Usually there are four levels in classifying colleges and universities in China:research university,teaching and research university,teaching college,junior college.The need of talents is various,so local colleges should be aware that different colleges have different functions.In hierarchical orientation,they must take “locality” as their basis.The undergraduate education and professional education should be their main roles.In professional orientation and orientation of standard of talents,local colleges may find out the needs of local communities,then start needed professions so as to train useful talents.For instance,Xiaogan city is a district with large population of agriculture.There is great potential in agriculture industrialization and urbanization.As the highest college in Xiaogan,Xiaogan University may focus on develop such professions as agriculture planting,landscape agriculture,city planning,architectural design and so on.In characteristic orientation of their schooling,local colleges should make their local features distinct to others.Every district has its typical geography,cultural environment,economic condition and natural resources.From what we have discussed above,in the course of running schools,four principles should be followed:principle of demand,principle of feasibility,principle of locality and principle of characteristic.

2.2 Keeping local district as its foothold,contacting and serving the society actively

Social and economic development of local district and development of higher education stimulate each other.Social and economic development is the base for the development of higher education.Higher education provides the development of social and economic development with talents and technology.Colleges and universities are the storage of knowledge.They should transmit knowledge from generation to generation,cultivate educated talents.Meanwhile they should create new knowledge and make use of them.

Local colleges should also be the research center of culture and the base of talents training.By using their intelligence and science and technology,they may contact and serve the society in many ways.There are three main functions local colleges can perform:cultivating talents,providing advisory and training service and promoting the integration of production,learning and research.

2.3 Enhancing the building of teaching staff in local colleges

The 21st century is a very critical period for the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education.It is also a critical period for educational reform and development.The key of rejuvenating the country through science and education is talent,the key of cultivating talent is the teacher.Thus,to build a group of teachers with high quality and energy is the most important task in the development of a college.

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