A Research On University Operational Logic Under The Context Of Marketisation

Market is not only a place for commodity exchange, but also a whole set of system, institution, procedure, culture, social relationship, living style, and even world-value and morality. Market and its economics are not value-irrelevent or value-neutral, but moral entities full of value judgments. Marketization is a process of market institution and its ideology expanding to more and more social spheres. Since the industrialization and establishment of capitalism, marketization has involved more and more goods into market exchange, and more and more people look at these goods as commodities. This process is also a social transformation, and human society is now stepping into market society governed by market exchange and money. Market enhances some human values, but simultaneously demolishs other human values. There are furious debates among intellecturals that how to morally judge the market society. While economists generally think market as a liberal dream, humanists look it as commodified nightmare, and sociologists treat it as feeble institutions embedded in society. The deep exploration of market itself is a premise for the correctly understanding on the university operation logic under the background of marketization.Human value is the meanings embedded in the objects and behaviors cherished by human beings, and intrinsic value is the eternal significance of human lifes and universe existences. The intrinsic value of university is the eternal reason for it to exist in human society. The logic of university operation in the marketplace could be found from its intrinsic value. The essence of philosophy and legitimacy of higher education by Brubacher is the intrinsic value of university. He presented two philosophy of higher education:epistimology and politics, corresponding to two intrinsic values, knowledge and pragmatism, however, he did not mention the third philosophy that addressed by many educationists such as J. H. Newman, R.M. Hutchins and Confucius, which is virtues and corresponds to the third intrinsic value, highese goods. This philosophy of virtues is much important in the context of market society where there are affluent materials, advanced science and technology, simutaneouly accompanied by hollow spirit, and dangerous future.Historically, modern universities were oringinated in mediaeval society governed by theology, where and when theology was the basic subject in universities. However, in the process of marketization, the university gradually became rational, pragmatistic, scientific, and theology was expelled from the university, and pragmatism and epistemology have overwhelmed virtues thoroughly. Many educationists in differents times expressed their worries about the rationalization and pragmatism of university, and today's critics on the marketization of university should not only stop at the popular of new liberalism since 1980s, but trace back to the long period of industrialization in the mediaeval. The university and its ideal have experienced many times of significant transformation, questioning, changing, and sustaining. As a special institution with the functions of critical and rethinking, the university should lead human being to think the rationalization, secularization, and modernization, and then its self evolution.In terms of external contexts of university operation, marketization means that the division of labor and close cooperation among entities, where the different entities persue their individual value objectives and exert influence to each other, and simultaneously, these entities would protect their values against the erosion of other entities and their values. These external entities around university are government, enterprise and society, who have their value objectives as state competition ability, profit and plural human values. The government could exerts great and direct influence on university by finance allocation, assignment of university president, setting of science program etc, involving university into its own value objectives. Enterprises are also influencing university more and more greatly by collaboration of university-research-industry, human resource demanding, etc. Universities have been involved in the manufacturing system and become the suppliers and demanders of producing factors. Comparing to government and enterprises, other social institutions such as family, general public, and media influence universities in subtle way. They persue plural values and enhance the pragmatism of university on one hand, on ther other hand they could also urge the epistemology and virtues persuit of university by social questioning.In terms of inner circumstances, marketization has basically changed the relation and behavior motivation inside university, nearly transformed it from an organization based upon responsibility to an organization based upon profit similar to enterprise. For example, university from a holy academia to knowledge shop, university president from a academic leader to education entrepreneur, teacher from the master to labour worker, student from leaner to consumer, specialized, vocational curriculum and major are enhanced but general education is short looked, etc. university is a paradoxical entity full of value conflicts, where on one hand it has stonger and stronger motivation for the profit in marketplace, on the other hand it could defend the profit and pursuing knowledge and virtues. Howver, this defense is becoming weaker, and the balance among pragamatism, epistemology and virtues in university are becoming biased in the market.The history of university development is actually the human ideology transformation from theological deontology in traditional society to contemporary utilitarianism and pragmatism, and the operation logic of university in marketplace is based upon people's ideology. As the oldest and social phenomenon, there are three intrinsic values of higher education and university, which are epistemology, pragmatism, and virtues. On the one hand, these three intrinsic values are legitimacy, meaning and significance of university, on the other hand, there are evaluation embedded in human's mind. The Higher Education Value Survey (HEVS) is an evidence of these evaluations of general public.The first-class university is not constructued upon detailed evaluation index system, but upon advanced and attractive value system. The popular university evaluation appraisal and ranking are essentially the result of pragmatism, trying to transform incommensurable plural value to monistic comparable value. This transformation is a degeneration of value deadline. The construction of first-class universities needs not only high speed economic development, but also advanced and attractive value system to the whole world. The first-class universities is not the followers of social demands, but the tower leading the society to unknown future.