Institutions Of Higher Education And Social Changes

Sichuan Rural Construction College (hereafter abbreviated as SRCC) and Sichuan Provincial Educational College (hereafter abbreviated as SPEC) were two colleges located in Sichuan Province and Chongqing city during 1930s and 1940s. It was constructed during social changes and made progresses meanwhile, it fully experienced the tortures brought by warfare. With the completion of social changes, SPEC was reconstructed into Southwest Normal College and Southwest Agricultural College. This paper provides a case study of SPCC and SPEC, which is from the perspective of the interaction between colleges and social changes, and makes an analysis from a regional perspective so as to gain a more thorough understanding of Chinese higher education in modern times.This paper consists of three parts: the foreword, the main body and the conclusion.The foreword embodies the topic selection, research routs, research summary and the approaches of study.The main body is divided into three parts.The first part is on the development of SPCC and SPEC in the background of social changes. The establishment of SRCC as well as its reconstruction as SPEC was the result of social changes. During the 1920s and 1930s, rural construction emerged in China due to the reason that many an intellect thought that China's backwardness is mainly caused by the poverty and ignorance of rural areas. Therefore it was urgent to promote the development of rural areas. The wave of rural construction swept Sichuan. In this background, SRCC was established in Sichuan province with the collaborative efforts of local government and Sichuan warlord. And SPEC was a product of both the central government and local government. Devoid of financial support, SRCC found it hard to develop. And due to the reluctance of Sichuan warlord to invest in SRCC, it was in the danger of being closed. With the consistent efforts of the teachers and students therein, SRCC was reconstructed into SPEC finally. In the post-war period, teachers and students in SPEC intended to change the college into a university, but their plan was thwarted due to the collapse of the national government.In the second part, the construction and reform of SRCC and SPEC are elaborated. SRCC and SPEC insisted combining theory with practice and made many a reform in a positive way. Aiming to promote rural construction SRCC increased the number of its faculty from two to four. After SRCC was reconstructed into SPEC, it enlarged its scale and adjusted the faculties and courses in terms of the social needs. However, SRCC and SPEC were facing many a difficulty during that special time.The third part lays an emphasis on SRCC and SPEC's impact on social changes. Their insistence of running schools in face of hard times had promoted the development of local education, helped to cultivate a large quantity of talents, and enhanced the inner qualities of Sichuan people. They greatly accelerated the development of local economy in Sichuan Province and meanwhile increased the income of local peasants, improved crops and the breed of livestock and popularized them to local peasants. They also contributed a lot to our success in the Anti-Japan war. They started movements with anti-war as the core and propagandized this sprit in rural areas. In the China'war of liberation, it went against the corruptive regime of Kuomintang, promoted the democratic process. In all, it made many demonstrative parades and many contributions in establishment of the People's Republic of China.The last part of the paper is the conclusion.