Research On The Internationalization Of National Universities From The Year Of 1917 To 1937

Internationalization is not only an important path to realize the modernization of higher education,but also the quality and important feature of world-class universities.Since modern times,due to the domestic and international situations and the needs of saving the nation by education and academy,Chinese higher education has gradually reformed according to international standards,which has not only laid historic foundation to reform of China’s modern higher education and the construction of world-class universities,and has provided strong support for the reform of domestic education and social undertakings,but also has made important contributions to the development of international higher education.There is an inherent historical continuity between many universities that undertake the mission of double-first-class construction today and the national universities in the period of the Republic of China.In order to effectively align with the national development strategy and respond to the people’s expectations for high-quality higher education,the dual-class-universities should excavate rich international ideas in their own university-running tradition and history,and inherit the essence of international university-running.This paper taking national universities as the starting point,taking higher education internationalization as the perspective,and taking the practice of national universities in the Republic of China(1917-1937)as the object,to analyze the origin,concept and practice of internationalization of national universities,to explore the influence,deficiencies and difficulties,and to summarize the characteristics and historical enlightenment of internationalization of national universities.The internationalization of national universities was a historical necessity.The disintegration of the ancient Chinese "the view of under heaven" and the continuous reflection on the integration of Chinese and Western cultures had promoted the formation of the global consciousness of modern Chinese intellectuals.The vigorous development of overseas education was an important reflection of global consciousness that developed from concept to practice.Oversea education had not only promoted the modernization of China’s higher education since the early Republic of China,but also has laid a talent foundation of further opening of education to the outside world.Since the First World War,the international community’s continuous reflection on the war brought about the vigorous development of the international education movement,and that had provided an opportunity for Chinese higher education to enter the international stage.Meanwhile,in order to conform to the international trend and enhance China’s international status,Chinese academic circles also demanded to actively participate in the international education movement.Influenced by both domestic and international forces,the presidents of National Universities advocated to carry out international education.In the concept of running universities,they emphasized learning others’ strengths and integrating it into Chinese culture.In the mission of running universities,they advocated universities serving the national rejuvenation and promoting China’s academic independence.In the goal of running universities,they emphasized on building "new universities" and "world-class universities".In order to implement the universities-running philosophy,mission and goals,the presidents emphasized the students must be nationalist talents with cosmopolitan ideal,the university curriculum should inherit the human wisdom and accommodate Chinese and foreign cultures,the university teacher must be Chinese and foreign scholars with first-class academic attainments.Due to the domestic and international environment,and the philosophy of presidents,the national universities actively integrated international and cross-cultural elements into its teaching,scientific research and social service functions.In the construction of international teaching team,national universities developed the professional and academic teacher team by hiring oversea students,foreign scholars and adopting teachers to go abroad.In the construction of international courses,national universities promoted the modern curriculum by imitating the courses from famous foreign universities,and integrating cross-cultural elements into local course.In terms of the international mobility of students,national universities not only promoted the students to study or explore abroad,but also provided services for foreign students to study in China,and through which had expanded the international vision of university students.In terms of international exchanges,national universities strove to balance the practice of "bringing in" and "going out" by widely drawing on international educational resources and actively conducting bilateral exchanges with the international community.On the whole,the internationalization of national universities during the Republic of China was an unbalanced and insufficient internationalization change,because there was internationalization gap among national universities and cultural attachment on European and American imperialist countries.Besides,Due to the relationship between national universities and the government has changed from loose to connected,the internationalization of national universities has also changed from independent education to government regulation.In addition,the focus of international education had gradually shifted from humanities & social sciences to practical subjects.Furthermore,the internationalization of national universities has begun to move towards the prelude of cultural awareness for continuous reflection on the relationship between Chinese and Western cultures.With the action of the government,social groups and foreign institutions,national universities actively implemented international education in the period of the Republic of China,and which had taken an important impact on Chinese education,social reform and the development of world education.First of all,the reflections that internationalization of national universities should consider the conditions of China had laid a path that internationalization of national universities should be based on the local area and the world.Secondly,through the international mobility of university teachers and students,and the international exchanges of academic publications,national universities had established close relationships with foreign institutions and scholars,and that had promoted the construction of China’s international academic network.In addition,the internationalization of national universities was an important part of the internationalization of world higher education,and it also had promoted the internationalization of foreign universities.Besides,the National University payed attention to establishing China’s image and disseminating China’s voice in its international education,which had enhanced the international community’s understanding and support of China.Finally,the internationalized education carried out by the National University had cultivated a large number of first-class talents for the socialist cause of New China.However,due to the internationalization of national universities during the Republic of China was still in the exploratory stage,it had shortcomings of insufficient bilateral cooperation,heavy dependence on European and American educational resources,gaps in development planning and implementation effects,and lack of international institutions.The above shortcomings during the period of the Republic of China were caused by the lack of stable international education environment,a solid international education foundation,and sufficient international education funds.At the same time,as the most important channel for national universities to participate in international exchanges,overseas education was also be considered as the hinder of China’s pursuit of academic independence.The internationalization of national universities in the period of the Republic of China had left some historic enlightenment.Firstly,"Harmony and difference" is the basic requirement of running an international university,and we must continuously adhere to the unity of cultural self-confidence and global vision.Secondly,supports and participation of principals and teachers are most important to improve higher education internationalization,and we should advocate the president and professors with international perspective to participate in the development of university.Thirdly,system construction is the basis of education internationalization,and the system construction must be strengthened to provide support for universities.Besides,culture is the inherent vitality of university development,we must attach importance to the accumulation and integration of Chinese and foreign educational cultures,and guarantee the cultural supply of higher internationalization.Finally,cultural diplomacy is an important function of international education,and universities should safeguard national interests and assume international responsibilities in international cultural and educational exchanges.