Reflections On University Institutional Ethics

In recent years, university institution study has become the focus in higher educational academic circle. At present, although most of the existing achievements about university institution treat university development as institutional evolution according to New Institutional Economics analysis paradigm, in some ways, these works are not hit the point essentially. In fact, university institutional ethical issues, namely the rationality of the university institution, are the essential issues during the foundation, innovation and development of university institution. Most of its negative influence is derived from the deficiency of the university institutional rationality. In order to fill the blank of this issue, my dissertation will study university institution from the perspectives of institutional ethics, especially pay more attention to the ethical crisis of university institution during the transformation of higher education modernization in China with critical reflection, which has important theoretical value and practical significance.University institutional ethics is the appeal for rationality of university institution, namely, evaluating the value of university institution in the light of certain principles. In multivariate and complicated evaluation criterions, justice is the first standard and academic development is the fundamental criterion. University institutional ethics chiefly includes three parts of contents: the substantive ethical problem, the formal ethical problem and the subject ethical problem. In the above three, they are interdependence and mutual influence, constitute a complete system of university institutional ethics. The substantive ethics of university institution refers to the understanding and ethical evaluation on the value orientation of university institutional rules. The value demands of university institutional rules are pluralistic and complicated. Rationalism and utilitarianism orientation are the concentrated expression of the values conflict and game. But all-round development of human being, academic freedom and promoting social progress are the rationality foundation of university institutional rules. The formal ethics of university institution is the understanding and ethical evaluation of the value in university institutional procedure. It mainly includes the establishment ethics, the execution ethics and the evaluation ethics during the process of university institutional procedure. It is to deserve attention that the formal ethics of university institution has relatively independence. Neutrality, equality, democratic participation, open, scientificalness, efficiency and stability are the rationality connotations of the formal ethics of university institution. The subject ethics of university institution is the understanding and ethical evaluation on the behavioral value of the subject. The freedom of the subject must be based on the definite obligation, so the university institutional subject must be undertaking the responsibility of substantive ethics and formal ethics, namely, the responsibility of justice, academic freedom and development, promoting social progress, neutrality, equality, democratic participation, open, scientificalness, efficiency and stability.Nowadays, higher education is in the social transition period in China, and university institution is also face the challenge of reformation and transformation. It is changing from the university institution suitable for traditional planned economy system to the institution needs to adapt to modern socialist market economy, and China's university institution should realize the transformation from elite education to mass education. Due to the change of internal and external environment of university, a series of ethic crises come forth in the current university institution in China. In the aspect of substantive ethics, because of the extreme utilitarianism and its dissimilative tendency, some rationality crises of university institution emerged, including excessive administrative level system, imbalance of power in organization structure design, extreme utilitarianism of academic rules and the whole institution for obtaining the quick benefits.With respect to the formal ethics, after being ignored for a long time by our society, it is obviously lack of the formal rationality of university institution, such as deficiency of democratic participation, obturation, non-neutrality and low effectiveness, etc. About the subject ethics, due to the upsurge of individualism and free consciousness, the university institutional subject seeks individual interests and rights but not obligation, and exceeds the limit of freedom, which leads to a lot of omission, malfeasance and much corrupt behavior.Aiming at practical problems of the university institution in China, we must inquire, introspection and construct solutions farther. The author believes that the rationality of the university institution will be full realization in the near future if we can attach great importance to deal with it. As for the university institutional rules, the basic measure to overcome the rationality crisis is transcendence of utilitarianism, promotion of the balance and combination between utilitarianism and rationalism. For the problems of formal ethics in China's university institution, a system of hearing system according to Chinese national conditions and college conditions should be established in order to supervise effectively and ensure fair and reasonable in the university institutional procedure. For the status of the subject ethics failed to execute duty in current China's university institution, remodeling the subject's responsibility consciousness, supervising effectively and evaluating timely on the subject's performance are the practical ways to keep the subject's behavior persistent and promote the subject's behavior more rational.