The Study On The Undergraduate Curriculum Of American Research University After World War Ⅱ

As one of the countries whose higher education is the most developed in the world, America has the most strongest system of research universities. American research university is an integration of undergraduate college, postgraduate college and professional college. It undertakes undergraduates and postgraduates training tasks. In the development of higher education's more than 100 years'history especially after the World Warâ…¡, the research university, which is featured for its scientific research and postgraduates training, has been dealing with the relationship between teaching and research, undergraduate and postgraduate education, general and professional education successfully. It has set up an example for all the other countries in the world. In recent years, with the purpose of being research universities, some famous universities in China have given more support to research and make great effort to develop postgraduate education, and the whole level of the school has made a great progress. However, there also occurs some questions such as overemphasize research and postgraduate education while ignoring teaching and undergraduate education. Starting with the practical problem in front of us, the dissertation tries to analyses the innovation history of the undergraduate curriculum in American research universities from the angles of reform background, content and measures in order to find some experiences for the problem of undergraduate curriculum in Chinese research universities.The dissertation is divided into five parts. Partâ… deals with the topic resource, the purpose and significance of the study, and also the present status, content, ideas and methods, domestic and overseas. It also defines the concept of American research university, describes its establishment and developmental process, organizational structure and operational model, as well as the undergraduate education and curriculum. Partâ…¡is about the curriculum reform background in American research university, the reform measures and state of the era after World Warâ…¡, the 1950's-1970's. Partâ…¢makes a careful analysis about the undergraduate curriculum reform background, measures and state of 1980's-1990's in American research universities. Partâ…£analysis the basic state and surroundings about the undergraduate education of the first five years of the twenty-first century. What's more, the dissertation also foresees the reform trends of undergraduate curriculum in the new era in American research universities. Part V is mainly about the characteristics, experiences and revelation, making a brief summary of the curriculum reform experience in American research universities. And based on that, it puts forward basic ideas of undergraduate curriculum reform for Chinese research universities.