Research On The Spirit Of The University

The university is not only an organizational entity, but also a kind of spiritualexistence. University spirit is the soul of a university, and is the mark of the university'sorganizational property, and also the essential reason of being a university. But theparticular meanings of the university spirit often suffer from transposition or even lossbecause of the influences from all factors in the multi-dimensional between the society andthe university. The decline or the loss of university spirit is the problem that the universityis often faced with in its course of development. As the university is moving from the edgetowards the center of society step by step, the university obtains unprecedented substantialrepayment, while at the same time university spirit is being faced with more and moresterner challenges, thus resulting in the noumenal crisis of the university. Therefore specialsubject research on the university spirit not only possesses important theoretical value, butalso possesses much practical value and realistic significance. This study first delimitatesthe university spirit, then reveals its nuclear factors based on the spiritual commonnessbetween the intellectuals and the university; by way of investigating the historicalinteractions between the university and such social factors like religion, politics andeconomy, the study has combed out the development orbit of university spirit; then thestudy has analyzed the interrelationship between what the university spirit should keep andwhy it changes from a theoretical perspective; at last the study has inquired into the realcircumstances of university spirit and the way of cultivating it. The connotation of university spirit is the logical starting point of this study. Themodern universities have inherited the mission of faith enlightenment and civilization fromthe Christian religion faith, and this makes the university a kind of "spiritual existence" inthe origin. The ontological meaning of "spirit" lies in that "Spirit is freedom, and spirit isthe self-surmount of existence, and spirit is a kind of quality". Therefore, university spirit isa kind of style and idosyncrasy condensed and embodied in the process of its inherentsurmount while sticking to its essentiality; and university spirit is the qualitative regularityof university. There is a close bond between the university and intellectuals. To a certain extent, theorigin of university was closely related to the spiritual pursuit of the intellectuals. Thecontact of intellectuals with the university becomes even closer after the university arises. IIIThe intellectuals are those who embody, practice and realize the university spirit. Theuniversity is a community of intellectuals, and the cradle for intellectuals to grow. Thespiritual contract between the university and the intellectuals implies that the universityspirit is commeasurable with the intellectual's spirit, and they are usually illustrated asfreedom, independence and criticism. In fact the evolution of university spirit is the history of interaction between theuniversity and social factors. In different historical stages, leading social forces such asreligion, politics and economy affect the university in different ways, thus the universityshows different spirit temperament. After religion became the main driving force of thesociety, theological belief and autonomy were the dominant demonstration of theinteraction between university and religion; when politics became the main interveningforce, the university was then faced with the contradiction of unifying the nation-centeredview with the academics-centered view; when economy became the important determinantof social development, the university had to expand its service function, and acted as a kindof service station. Freedom, independence and criticism are the spirits that the universityshould keep because the essentiality of university is...