A Study On The Evolution Of The Model Of The University: In A View Of Knowledge Production

The model of the university can be defined as a culturally embedded idea of the essence, role, and mode of organization of the university and of its relationship to the state and to society at large. In different historical periods, the essential factors of university model compose different contents and performances. Therefore, it is impossible to go round the exploration of the history of university model to understand the university's model itself. At the same time, as a cultural organization, the university has been closely linked with the production, dissemination, popularization of knowledge since its beginning in the mediaeval ages. It's impossible to understand the university today and to grasp the university's development trend in the future. History is a mirror of reality and it helps us a lot. From the historical angle and the knowledge production's angle of view may see more clearly the change course of the university model as well as the inner relations to the knowledge production.The dissertation attempts to define clearly the concept of university type of all forms and to find the change course of university model as well as the relations between knowledge production and university model since the mediaeval ages based on the view of knowledge production. The dissertation begins with the rising of the Mediaeval University, and to launch the research in four big historical stages. The first stage is the Mediaeval Ages (12- 15th century); The second is the earlier modern times (16- 18th century); The third, the early modern time (the 19th century), and the fourth, the modern time (the 20th century). On the base of the description of knowledge production and the induction of university model's essential feature of each historical stage I believe that there are four corresponding university model: the prototype model, Differentiation model, nation-style model and the newly emerging model.The emphasis is put on the analysis including the forming process, the essential features, the relation between knowledge production and university models in France, UK, German and US, which influence greatly in the world. After combing the whole story of various university models, the author try to explore the intrinsic relations during the evolution of the university model.The dissertation divides into three major parts, i.e., introduction, body and the conclusion with the main body part composed of five chapters. The first chapter is about university and knowledge production in the Mediaeval Ages (12- 15th century),the second, university's development and knowledge production in earlier modern time (16- 18th century), the third chapter, modern characteristic university model of nationalities and its knowledge production (the 19th century), the fourth chapter, the transfer route of modern European University models, and the fifth, the newly emerging university model and its knowledge production in the 20th century. There are two clues in the dissertation demonstratively. One is the master line and it is about the evolution course of the university model from prototype university in the Mediaeval Ages, the preliminary differentiation in earlier modern times to nationa-style university models as well as US's research university model today. And the concealed clue is the historical exploration of university knowledge production.The creativity of the dissertation's can be summed up in the following two aspects:(1) On the perspective, the dissertation tries to break through the research frame of the traditional whole theory, attempts to conduct a systemic research of evolution of the university model based on the perspective of the knowledge production, takes the knowledge production as the main clue to understand the evolution of the university model to explore thoroughly the complex interactive relations between the knowledge production and the university model evolution.(2) On the content, the dissertation mainly has realized the innovation in three aspects: 1st, it deepens the elementary theory research of the university model. The dissertation discriminates interpretations and different views regarding the university model in the academy, proposes basic mentality to understand the university model, defines university model's connotation, and to improve the elementary theory research of the university models.(3) The dissertation conducts a systemic research on the university model on a larger space and time scope. The dissertation breaks through the space and time limitation of the university model research: In the time, it accepts historical vicissitude process into the research scope from the middle ages to modern times. On the sense of space, it breaks the vision limit of the traditional research on the limitation of sole nationalities, carries on systemic combing and elaborating of many country's university model's emerging and the succession variation process, to make clear the whole story and the evolution. It has a systemic and thorough analysis of the intrinsic relations between the knowledge production and the university model. The dissertation combs the relations of different historical periods and thoroughly promulgates the intrinsic interactive relations between the university model vicissitude and the knowledge production...