Research On The Orientation Of Universities Of Applied Sciences

After World War Ⅱ, the post-war economy has recovered and developed quickly and the structure of industries has been reformed driven by the third technological revolution, which made new demands for education and technology-applied and creative talents. Under the background, universities of applied sciences have been established and developed through various models in European, such as up-gradation or transformation. These universities are well recognized for its specific orientation and distinctive characteristics.There are a series of universities of applied sciences which cultivate technology applied talents during the process of the popularization of higher education. However, the rationality of the existence of the universities of applied sciences is constantly being questioned, due to the insufficient number, disorder development and no evaluation criteria of the universities of applied sciences. The fundamental reason for this is the vagueness of the nature and orientation of these applied science universities.Cuirently China has explicitly put forward the need to establish universities of applied technology and established the policy framework for the development of applied technology universities, but it’s only the local governments that assume the responsibility to develop this kind of universities. Whether these universities of applied sciences, as a foreign good, can realize its value depends on the proper orientation of the universities of applied sciences. However, there is lack of research on the orientation of these universities. This paper explores the orientation of the universities of applied sciences from the aspects of theoretical and practical, functional and system theory.This paper consists of six chapters:Chapter 1:Introduction. It discusses the reason why this problem was chosen and explores the nature of the universities of applied sciences. Based on the analysis of related literature, it proposes the research ideas and methods.Chapter 2:The development and orientation of the universities of applied sciences in China. It combs the background and orientation of the universities of applied sciences in China, noting that the universities of applied sciences played an active role in promoting the process of Chinese higher education popularization, and discusses the common features and main problems in the orientation of the universities of applied sciences in China.Chapter 3:The development and orientation features of the universities of applied sciences overseas. It analyzes the development and orientation experiencesof the universities of applied sciences in Germany. Britain and Taiwan of China, and explores the common characteristics of the universities of applied sciences.Chapter 4:The orientation of the universities of applied sciences in social system. It analyzes the role and function of the universities of applied sciences by use of structural function theory and figures out their orientation in social system.Chapter 5:The orientation of the universities of applied sciences in higher education system.lt analyzes the orientation in terms of types, levels and functions of universities of applied sciences from the intermediate level and finds out their place in the system of higher education.Chapter 6:The proper orientation of the universities of applied sciences: methods, strategies and recommendations.It analyzes the principles, bases and strategies of orientation of the universities of applied sciences, and puts forward the proper orientation for the universities of applied sciences which is the basis and precondition for the development of these universities. These universities should focus on cultivation of technology applied talents and meet the need of social and economic development based on its history and characteristics.