Research On The Talent Cultivating Objectives Of Undergraduate Education In Research Universities

Talent cultivation,scientific research,social service,and cultural inheritance and innovation are the basic functions of modern universities.Among which,the talent cultivation is the fundamental mission,the basic value and the most important ground for the universities' existence.The essence of education is to promote the all-round sustainable development of individuals.The objectives of undergraduate education are the spirit and core of talent cultivation.Centering on the moral excellence of talented individuals,the talent cultivation focuses on the following crucial problems,namely,“what kind of talents to be cultivated,how to cultivate the talents,and for whom the talents cultivated”.Although the research-intensive universities in our country are further advancing to a magnificent target as the world first-class universities which attracts great attention,there are still some deficiencies in the talent cultivation of the undergraduate education,among which is the objectives of the talent cultivation.As a consequence,this dissertation circles tightly on the talent cultivation objectives of undergraduate education and explores thoroughly the value orientation of the talent cultivation of undergraduate education in research-intensive universities.This dissertation endeavors to probe into such crucial problems as “what kind of talents to be cultivated,the present situation,problems and causes of existing objectives of the talent cultivation,how to adjust and reform the objectives of the talent cultivation during the process of building the world first-class universities”,etc.Through the systematic research,this dissertation is of great importance in both theory and practice to facilitate making clear the guiding lines and developmental orientation of the research-intensive universities,to reform and innovate the model of the talent cultivation for undergraduates,to cultivate more high-quality and innovative talents,to attempt to build up the people-satisfied higher education which is able to shoulder the grand historical missions of pushing forward the establishment of the world first-class universities and of cultivating more elites for the social development and progress,and in the end to lay a solid foundation for fulfilling the great national rejuvenation of the “China Dream”.This dissertation utilizes synthetically mixed methods such as the literature research,the comparative research,the case study,and investigation and interview,etc.Grounded extensively on the previous research achievements,this dissertation makes an in-depth and comprehensive exploration over the problems such as the individual-based and the society-based talent-cultivation objectives,the value-orientation based on the dialecticalunity between the value-rationality and the instrument-rationality and the functions of the guidance,stimulation,adjustment and valuation of the talent cultivation.Besides,this dissertation deeply probes into the current situation and existing problems in the 50research-intensive universities in China,which shows the expressive consistency in cultivating talents with such expressions as “the extensive and solid knowledge base,the strong innovative spirit and practical capacity,the broad international vision,the intensive social responsibility,and the favorable moral excellence”.Undoubtedly,however,there exist such problems in the objectives of the talent cultivation as “too high-sounding and broad in general,disorder and messy in expression,lack of guidance,value imbalance,and strong convergence”.This dissertation attempts to analyze the reasons why these problems exist from the following aspects of the administrative system,educational concepts,the elite education,and the general education,etc.At the same time,this dissertation comparatively explores the objectives of the talent cultivation and the innovative practices in the 50 world first-class universities,which show that they are “high-sounding in determination,full of unique characteristics,prominent in extensive basic knowledge,innovation pursuing,and global vision and human-caring”,and are characterized with academy-oriented,individual-oriented,society-oriented,human-oriented,and goodness-oriented.Combining with the grand background of the tendency of world higher education reform and the establishment of “Double First-rate” in China,this dissertation puts forward that the research-intensive universities,during the process their advancing to the world first-class universities,have to firmly ground on the basic realities of our own country and their own characteristics,to hold fast to the missions and the concepts as research-intensive universities,to construct in the new-era the undergraduate education with the qualities of “Chinese Characteristics and the World First-class”,ultimately to accelerate the transformations from the existing objectives of the talent cultivation to the quality-based objective,to the subjectivity-based objective,and to the objective of cultivating social citizens and world citizens of the global vision.In the end,this dissertation tries to innovatively put forward such strategies and suggestions as reforming the administrative system of the high education,strengthening the training of teachers' teaching capacity,carrying forward the reform of the talent cultivation of undergraduate education,and establishing the objective fulfillment mechanism of the talent cultivation,etc.