The Value Rethinking Of Higher Education's Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria are the logic premise for carrying out the evaluation activities as well as the foundation and core of evaluation activities. Evaluation criteria not only have the instrumental value of a code of product, but the rational value of the development of the subject. Due to the ignorance of the dominant position of the institution of higher learning in the present evaluation activities of higher education, and the weakness for the research of the value of evaluation criteria on higher education in the theoretical study, the value rethinking of higher education's evaluation criteria becomes the problem that the higher education's evaluation has to face. This thesis is under the theoretical foundation of existential ontology and epistemology by using the research method of value analysis and systematic analysis, thus makes value analysis and value construction for evaluation criteria of higher education, which helps to deepen the theoretical research of evaluation criteria of higher education, establishes the value of main position of active development of the institution of higher learning, prevents and overcomes the subjective arbitrariness of the judgment for the value of higher education, promotes the standardization and scientification of the teaching evaluation of undergraduate.At present, although Chinese academic field generally admits that evaluation is a valuable cognitive activities, they often define value and evaluation by the way of reflection theory that value is attributed to the fact that ready-made and evaluation is the reflection of the fact of value. By using the mode of pre-thinking, they measure the value of evaluation object by the scale of "object", consider evaluation criteria as a "ruler" for confirming the value size of evaluation object, and emphasize exogenous, preformed nature, cognitive and certainty of evaluation criteria. From the perspective of the ontology and the general cognitive, value is a "fact' of subjectivity in the performance of own existence and change; evaluation is a cognitive activity by the means of grasping the meaning of value of the world and its core significance is human-centered. Evaluation is a kind of normative cognition.Norm is linked to the rule of cognition that is performed as criteria and standard of cognition. Rule itself is the existence of meaning and the significance of rule is a kind of creative meaning. Evaluation criteria have the instrumental value of the code of conduct and the rational value of the subjective development.On the influence of substance ontology and epistemology of subject and object, we usually consider education as a means of imparting knowledge, developing economy and pursuing utilitarian, but we forget that it has its own meaning on the existence of human life. We have reached a common view on the value judgment of educational evaluation which only emphasize the description of objective facts and the identification of the achievement degree on educational targets, and weaken the deeper consideration on the significance of educational evaluation activity itself. Education itself is a value-loaded affair and the significance of education is to fulfill the wonderful existence of human beings.Educational activity as a kind of norm-directed activities and the development of educational evaluation roots the development of education itself. We must verify and measure the actual educational evaluation criteria on the view of point of morality according to the criteria of value that they should be and make the free development of human beings as the core value and ultimate goal of educational evaluation criteria.The domestic academic field generally agrees that higher educational evaluation is a process judging the value of higher education, but this reorganization is restricted to the cognitive framework of dichotomies of subject and object, and ignores the institution of higher learning that is considered as the developing value of the value of subject. Under the view of university assessment oriented by "entity" and social instrument, the evaluation of higher education is more as tool for governments to manage university; thereby its own significance of value creation and value generation is ignored. People intend to pursue the social value of higher education and are infatuated with the design of the instrumental and rational evaluation criteria. University is an academic organization that is constituted of the group producing knowledge and is in the pursuit of self-survival and development. During the process of the development of university, university needs to make objective judgments on its own developing condition and also needs to make the constant self-reflection and evaluation of its own development. Evaluation of higher education is a cultural practice activity that has the value of life existence, and its ultimate aim is to promote the development of university; evaluation criteria of higher education are value standards that educational evaluation activities should follow, and have the instrumental value of behavior norm and the rational value of university development among them university development is the core value of evaluation criteria of higher education.Western higher education has mature academic foundation. As the evaluation criteria of higher education have turned the interior of higher education into the exterior of higher education, even though the academic power has fallen under a certain degree of control, the traditional academic power shows a tremendous influence, which the new quality of language is also included in their own culture of academic disciplines by scholars, rather than that university and behaviors of the scholars are totally measured by the exterior government and market. Because of the diversity of the subject of value of higher education and its special nature in the position, the value conflict of evaluation criteria of higher education shows like these:the reasonableness of evaluation criteria conflicts with the relevance of educational quality; the unity of evaluation criteria conflicts with the variety of the institutions of higher education; evaluation of government accountability conflicts with the active development of university. The purpose of evaluation of higher education is to help university to achieve their development goal. The value of coordination of evaluation criteria of higher education takes on the personalized assessment based on dynamic development, the guidance of value based on active development and the developing trend based on evidence analysis of deep qualitative.The evaluation system of Chinese higher education started in the middle of 80s,20 century. As the autonomous management of university has gradually increased and the macro-management functions of government have further changed, the evaluation system of higher education becomes increasingly standardized and improved. However, because Chinese university lack the academic foundation of independent development, coupled with a highly centralized administrative management of higher education, higher education evaluation becomes an administrative tool that government controls university. Evaluation criteria of higher education based on the instrumental purpose pay attention to the exterior code of conduct of university, and weaken the rational value of the active development of university, and also weaken the contradictions between the unity of evaluation program and the variety of university, between the evidence of evaluation index and the humanism in education, between the coagulation of evaluation criteria and the development of university. In order to realize the creation of value of evaluation criteria of higher education, we need to establish the dominant position of university in the university system, explicit the significant of value construction of evaluation of higher education, set up evaluation criteria of higher education that is suitable for the development of university, highlight the classification of guidelines, and improve the index system of evaluation.