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A Study Of The Appointment Of Teachers Of National Universities During The Republic Of China

Posted on:2006-12-02Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:X L DengFull Text:PDF
GTID:1117360155963772Subject:Special History
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In recent years, university education in modern China has attracted the attention of the academic circle. However, little has been done on the research of the appointment of Teachers of national universities. Starting from the historic origin of teachers' appointment, the writer has probed into the influence of teachers' appointment of modern European, American and Japanese universities on that of Chinese universities, the formation and development of it in Republic of China, the practical operation of it and some issues concerned.Modern universities originated from Europe, specifically from the setup of Berlin University of Germany. So German university teachers' appointment was followed by the United States of America and some European countries even though variation existed. A case in point was Japan , which followed suit of Germany among Asian countries. The first modern university of China was Jing Shi Da Xue Tang (predecessor of Peking University)built in 1898. Invaded and insulted because of its weakness, modern China always learned from its neighbor Japan to maintain its ruling and work with a will to make it strong, so did the appointment of teachers. Nevertheless, its source still dated back to Germany.The last monarchy dynasty in china was overthrown due to 1911 Revolution. The Republic of china was then founded, and the most outstanding was the promulgation of Decrees of University in universityeducation. Teachers' appointment in it was mainly about several rules of university teachers' varieties, but it was the first to conduct the system of teachers' appointment of national universities during the Republic of China. Later on Bei Yang government conferred a series of laws and decrees concerned with universities to emphasize and regulate teachers' varieties and rights. Teachers varieties, qualification examination and appointment rights of it were not gradually perfect until GuoMin government in Guang Zhou made Regulations of University-Professors' Qualifications in 1926.It, therefore, represented the beginning of the system.Meanwhile, as the earliest national university during the period of the republic of china, Peking University, mainly under the administration of president Cai Yuan-pei, enjoyed something in common with the government' s laws and decrees and something different with them in employing teachers. However, national universities in various provinces such as Cheng Du University and Guang Dong University, employed teachers according to their tradition and condition on one hand, and obeying educational laws and orders on the other. Horizontally, national universities in various provinces drew lessons from Peking University, the earliest national university, while maintaining their features.Later on Nan Jing government was set up. In July, 1927, The Law of Qualifications of University Teachers was made, which was the earliest one related to university teachers' appointment at that time. From the perspective of its name and method, even some contents, it was virtually the same with that in 1926 though differences existed between them. This showed continuity and development of laws and decrees. As to the three aspects of the system of teachers' appointment, it mainly focused on teachers' varieties and their qualifications, but not their rights.The Law of University Organization then made up for it. Because of its social background different from Bei Yang government, the administrative was stricter than before in appointing teachers. Especially in August, 1940,the Education Department conferred The Transient Rule of Qualifications Examination of Teachers in Universities and Independent Colleges and took over the investigation rights of teaches' appointment, which revealed the intentions of stressing control of it. In fact, most teachers were examined due to it. Some national universities didn' t carried on it at all because of Anti-Japanese War. Different from the laws and regulations, The Law of Universities, conferred in 1948, was the first to cover its development from the angle of law, while former regulations appeared in form of decrees or rules, instead of law. The Law of University Organization , nominally, was kind of law, but it only focused on its organization, not for university as a whole. Therefore, The Law of Universities could be regarded as the origin of all in its formation and development. This also showed that it was a process to build a lawful system of modern teachers' appointment.In term of the practices of the appointment of Teachers of national universities, there was much difference between educational laws and regulations of Peking University and Qing Hua University which were the national culture centers, and national universities in various provinces such as Si Chuan University in reality. Vertically, they had different actual method when following the formers for the reason that they were in different times and under the control of different presidents. Even in the same period, each national university , no matter where they were, adopted different ways of appointing teachers because of different places and leaders. What' s more, take Si Chuan University of national university and Chong Qing University of provincialuniversity as an example, even though there were origins between them, the latter, which had limits, was different from the former when learning .And those differences were manifested in their own detailed appointing rules and regulations and forms.It was indispensable for the formation and development of appointment system and its practice in national universities to probe into it in the course of the Republic of China, but attention should be paid to some phenomena that the appointment was characterized as diversity and mutuality of modern China. It was such factors as presidents, friends, quasi-friends, factions, politics and economy that made the system probable. As far as the laws and decrees were concerned, it was equal for a teacher whether he had studied at home or abroad, and there seemed no prejudice. Due to universal preference to new trends in modern society and demands of new experts for the country, overseas teachers were preferred to local teachers in reality. When a teacher was examined, his works, the academic achievements, which were the same as diploma, schooling and work experience, were also investigated. From the perspective of the function of universities, knowledge was equally important to scientific research, but the latter was often more stressed in each national university. Only because of incomplete modern academic system, it was not evident that whether special academic issues were superior to comprehensive ones, so were their ranks or grades, though there was tendency that a academic center was measured by numbers of academic achievements. Therefore, the quality of academic achievements was not the same as that of today which was ranked accordingly.A university was basically composed of administrative organizations, appointed teachers, teaching facilities, courses and length of schooling, and the qualification of teachers was a key factor. In return, how the appointment system was formed and practiced had an importantimpact on university education. The development of some of national universities indicated that their departments, colleges, disciplines and laboratories were set up for they had some intellects and experts concerned. Owing to this, some disciplines, universities and nations were famous for them.The system contributed much not only to university education, but to the growth of modern academy. This could be proved by creating academic issues, academic organizations and publishing academic achievements. As Mr. Gu Xie-guang had planned, an academic society should be built in China. It was not only his ideal, but that of his peers.
Keywords/Search Tags:National Universities, Appointment of Teachers, University Education, Modern Academy
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