The Issues Of Specialty Setting In The Transition Of Local Normal Universities

At the end of 20th century, in order to meet the need of the popularization of higher education and the local economic and social development, normal universities in Guangxi made some changes in specialty setting during their transition and established some non-teacher-training majors in addition to original normal programs to cultivate practical talents for local elementary education and industry development. However, the reform of specialty setting has been getting harder because of the coexistence of teacher-training and non-teacher-training majors as well as undergraduate and higher vocational programs, the constant changes of the demands for special talents in the society and the limitation of school running conditions, which easily leads to the confusion between professional and normal education as well as undergraduate and higher vocational programs, and to negative influence on the educational quality and the sustainable development of local normal universities. Therefore, the issues of specialty setting in the transition of local normal universities are of great practical significance.This research is a case study of M Normal University, a local university in Guangxi. The transition of specialty setting requires the supportive measures from administration to teaching management. As a teacher engaging student and teaching management for years and experiencing the transition in M Normal University, the author collected sufficient case data, including many strategic documents of meeting minutes, records, all-level administration and teaching management policies in recent years, and over 10 interview records of 3 university leaders in charge of development planning, 5 deans of department engaging specialty setting and construction and several teachers and students on the base of the questionnaires for the application of associate-to-bachelor program. The reliability and validity of this research are guaranteed by the multiple testifications of archives analysis, case investigation and qualitative interviews.This paper is in two parts. The first part is an introduction to the research background, content and objectives, the definition of key concepts and the study system and methodology. The second part is the main part of this paper, covering Chapterâ…¡,â…¢,â…£andâ…¤. In Chapterâ…¡, the author analyzes the impetus of the specialty setting reform in M Normal University, the thoughts of orientation, major reform and specialty construction and the opportunities and challenges for development by the methods of document studies and interviews. Based on the discussion above and the differences of characteristics in undergraduate and higher vocational programs, in Chapterâ…¢the author analyzes the problems of inappropriate special majors development, major orientation, undergraduate program offer, basic theoretical course arrangement and practical teaching in the transition of M Normal University. In Chapterâ…£, the author discusses the causes of problems above in the specialty setting and development of M Normal University in the comprehensive consideration of its history, management policies, administrative system, operation conditions, integration of market and campus, education-related policies and social demands. In Chapterâ…¤, based on the discussion above and the school orientation, the author proposes some suggestions for the specialty setting reform of M Normal University. This study is expected to offer some beneficial references to reform and development of the case university and the other local normal universities.