A Research On Discipline Integration In University Combination

The university combination is a significant manoeuvre to adjust the layout and to reform higher education system in 1990s in China; besides, it is an importance insurance of further development of higher education. Newly born, the combination deserves strengthened systematic research theoretically and practically. As an elementary part of university, discipline plays a crucial role in university management. Its integration is directly associated with whether university combination fails or not. Thus, it is a significant task to elaborately realign and rationally construct the disciplines to meet with the demand of economic construction, technological progress and social development.The article is devoted to a theoretically systematic analysis and to a case study of discipline integration in university combination. After analysing disciplines, the definition of discipline integration, and the concerned background, the article brings forward the status quo and problems in university combination. After this analysis, the paper proposes the updated concepts and systems in university combination. Last but not least, the paper makes a case study of Soochow University's practice in discipline integration. The key points of the article is as follows:1 .The discipline's mutual penetration and integration can find its theoretical ground from technological development, the discipline's disintegration and synthesis, social requirements on talents cultivation and the promoted researching capability of university.2. Some overseas universities make great achievements in talents cultivation, scientific research and social service, and this is closely associated with their unique and innovative discipline arrangements. This can give Chinese universities a great reference.3. The harmony of disciplinary culture as well as originality is the basic ofdiscipline integration; the key of disciplinary combination lies in the originality of discipline arrangement structure. Matrix structure system and college system serve as a theoretical ground for discipline integration.4. The discipline integration exerts an active impact on Soochow University's progress, leading to the birth of cross-linked disciplines and thus promoting the fast development of research and relevant disciplines. Meanwhile, some problems deserve to be resolved, such as excessively classified disciplines, and the insufficient attention paid to the cross-discipline research organs. These problems eliminate the advantages of cross-discipline and thus are detrimental to disciplinary penetration and integration.