Eudemon Of Undergraduate Education

Ernest Leory Boyer was a distinguished educational theorist, practitioner and a marvellous educational orator. He made outstanding contributions to various types and all levels of America’s education. He was honored as "a leader of educators, an educator of leaders".Following the basic principle of consistence of history and logic, combining the methodology of vertical and horizontal, macro and micro research, using methods of literature, interviews, case studies, and comparative research, this dissertation traces Boyer’s experience in higher education management, reveals main factors which influence the formation and development of his ideology, interpretates reconstructs his ideas on higher education. The dissertation also hackles Boyer’s higher education reform and practical experience, and explores the impact of Boyer’s idea on American higher education as well as the enlightenment on China’s higher education reform and development.Chapter I traces Boyer’s life experience and administrative experience in higher education. During his chancellorship of New York State University, Boyer overcame financial difficulties and devoted himself to educational innovations:he established Distinguished Teaching Professorship for faculty, developed a program of three-year Bachelor’s Degree of Arts, initiated five-year review for university presidents, and set up a university without walls-the Imperial University. As Commissioner of Education Office under the Ministry of Health, Education and Wealth, Boyer strived to promote a new trustful relationship between the Congress, Education Office and schools and high education institutions all over the country, and provided more equal opportunities for all and excellent students in the public educational institutions of all levels. During the presidency of the Carnegie Foundation of Advancement of Teaching, Boyer published a series of highly influential reports and books, and his academic vision touched every corner of American education. He also engaged in pilot projects for educational reform and endeavored to promote the implementation, evaluation and popularization of each project.Chapter Ⅱ and Chapter Ⅲ refine, sort out and reconstruct Boyer’s philosophy on higher education, which includes the idea of essence of a university, the missions of a university, the goals of undergraduate education, the quality of an exllent university, curricula for undergraduates, and scholarship of a university.Chapter Ⅳ and Chapter Ⅴ explore the impact of Boyer’s ideology on American higher education from macro and micro levels respectively. On the macro level, Boyer’s ideology influences and promotes reshaping of a culture of scholarship of teaching and learning in contemporary America’s universities and colleges, reinvention of undergraduate education in research universities, reform of evaluation and incentive system for faculty, flourishing of undergraduate research and innovative activities, reconstruction of the scholarly community, establishment of students’ interdisciplinary study, expansion of the connotation of doctoral education, and establishment of diversified ecosystem for institutions. Achievements of America’s higher education since the 1980s reflect Boyer’s contribution as well as collective wisdom of many contemporary American educational thinkers and practitioners. On the micro level, UC Berkeley, is taken as a case study. Boyer’s ideas on scholarship influence the orientation of the Karl Pister Report, triggering a universitywide discussion of faculty evaluation and reward policy. Boyer’s proposals on undergraduate education provide an important revelation for the Maslach Report and the Final Report of the Undergraduate Education Committee. UCB has made much obvious results in the reform of general education, seeking and maintaining excellence in undergraduate teaching, and providing for more research opportunities for undergraduate students.Chapter Ⅵ reveals the enlightenment of Boyer’s ideology on China’s higher education, namely, its positive significance for orientation of functions for China’s universities, the · evaluation of university faculty and the reform of undergraduate education.Main contributions of this dissertation are:based on the extensive literature, the dissertation takes a detailed retrospect on Boyer’s management experience of higher education; sorts out and reconstructs Boyer’s ideology on higher education, discusses and analyses deeply on the origin of his ideas, pays a realistic assessment of the impact of Boyer’s ideas on both America’s and China’s higher education practice.