The Way Forward For University

Throughout all the history of higher education,University has experienced a number of changes,from knowledge-imparting to science-exploring,from society-serving to culture-inheriting,its missions and responsibilities continue to evolve.Universities differ in eras because they exert impacts on each other.What is the spirit of University over millennium?How should we adhere to its common mission if we define it as a place of learning Human,Reason or Virtue?As the saying goes,“Tao is invisible,the origin of reproductive world;Tao is rational,the standard of truth;Tao is nameless,the name of all things",and so what is University’s form,ration and name?Because he served as a college student,a college teacher,an administrator,a bosom friend,aknower,a lover,a researcher,a devotee,President Zhang Chuting,as the embodiment of a university,answers the above questions on his own established philosophy and theory of higher education,exploring with Chinese characteristics the tenets of University based on its original purposes.Zhang Chuting creates his theory of Personism emphasizing absolute person centered from its origin and for its destiny."Person is sacred and person is magic mastermind".The ultimate goal of Personism is person’s values.Zhang Chuting holds that "the essence of man is man himself,so mastering this means mastering that of education".Education is for man,hence its standpoint and center lie in human development and human activity,so that respecting,understanding,concerning and loving human can promote well-rounded life for human.He creates his personism axiom based on the start point axiom of human nature,together with other four,namely life,human nature and science,justice and education axioms,aiming at answering what education is,which question is the philosophy foundation of education.University originates from human needs,generates from self-vitality,and upholds freedom and self-transcending,while,among those,freedom is commonly considered as the University life.University principle is to protect learning,education and spirit freedom at university.Zhang’s thoughts and theories of higher education,with his personism as the core,involves in principles of education,academic and management aspects.These”three principlesi”is considered as the organic parts of his integrated theory for higher education,with education being the core,academic being the prerequisite,and management being the guarantee.Zhang’s educating principles reflect his attitudes toward students,curriculum and education.He argues for student-oriented thought,respecting students and maintaining their interests,so he devotes himself"to maintaining and developing students for their dignity and making a rule of respecting students as the school’s first principle".Students should be considered as the foundation of all school activities and its existence.One of the most important University missions is to promote students ’ individuality and even all-rounded development,training them to be better and stronger.By actualizing quality education,courses of personism should be implemented for individuals,forsaking talent-training patterns,respecting individual subjectivity,so that we can better achieve the fundamental purposes of education for human development at University.Zhang’s academic thought reflects his view of knowledge and talent.He maintains academic and the teacher’s ontologies,respects academic authority,and defends academic freedom in realize academic values of knowledge inheritance and knowledge innovation.Academic pursuit shares the same characteristics of University academic community.Academic ontology comes from the University internal requirements.Academic spirit plays the core collection role of University.University sees academic as its life,and it reflects the individual ontology through academic ontology.Individuals make best use of their talents,and profits come from innovation.The basic idea of Zhang Chuting University academic management lies in building high level teams of teachers,protecting academic freedom of scholars,and maintaining scholars’ academic power without being violated.Zhang Chuting’s management thought reflects his viewpoints of school-running and school-managing.His University theory and charming personality are marked by his personal management style guaranteed by University regulations.Zhang’s thinking and practice lie in his combination of explicit and implicit management,his dialectics of supervision or non-supervision in heart,his soul role as a president,his proposal of internal and external management according to law.In Zhang’s mind,these four factors of personnel,finance,material,time management must serve the students,academics,and basic school goals.Target management and democracy management are the principles of all school affairs,while non-management deserves the highest among these principles.So-called the President’s "magic weapon" is to making full use of his "clever strategies,shining goals,advanced concepts,good personalities" to deal with external relations and internal governance depending on law and perfect school rules.Zhang Chuting’s education philosophy is based on his personism,on local higher education practice,generating and constructing a kind of the contemporary high education system with Chinese characteristics,providing realizable ideas and programs of solving the pending problems for University.In order to achieve its holy missions,University should create an spirit of freedom and independence,put emphasis on its consciousness in individual education,carry out the training models of"humanities leading University",come back to university education essence,adhere to its ideals and pursuits,surpass the self,practical utilitarianism,and lead the development of society.