The Relationship Between The Government And National Universities In The Republic Of China

Reviewing the development history of modern higher education, the relationship between the government and universities has been a hot issue on a global scale. No matter in western or eastern countries, higher education is an important part of national cause. The government, as the representative of the ruling class, will exert more or less influence on universities. While the university itself will need the help of the government. Therefore the relationship will occur between the government and the university. It is a sensitive, inevitable issue. Nevertheless, this problem cannot be fixed in a certain form, which used to be repeated again and again, and additionally has been updated all the time. The relationship between the government and universities is also one of the core issues of the today’s higher education system reform and one of key factors of the development of universities.’National long-term education reform and development plan (2010-2020)’put forward clearly that in order to meet the requirements of Chinese national condition and the times we would construct modern school system that based on the law, self-management, democratic supervision and social participation, and build a new relationship among government, universities and communities. The plan requires stepping forward to explore and establish management system and supporting policies which match with the characteristics of Chinese universities to overcome administrative tendency and abolish the actual existence of the executive levels and administrative management models. Universities should carry out teaching activities, scientific research, technological development and social services independently according to the national laws and macroeconomic policies. Furthermore, universities should set up and adjust subjects and specialties independently; also they should make plans of development and organize the implementation independently. Moreover, universities should set up institutions of teaching, research and administration independently, determine the internal distribution of income, manage and use the talents, property and funds independently.In the Humboldt era of19th century, the western countries have begun systematic research on the relationship between the government and universities. While in our country the study on the relationship between the government and universities started very late. With the changing of social politics, economic situation since reforming and opening, along with the rising call on school autonomy, the relationship between the government and universities become a hot topic with widely attention and research. With the research and investigation, scholars have made many research results. However, the research on the relationship between the government and the universities in the period of the Republic of China is a relatively new topic. Few researches, whether from historical origin or education background, have carried out systematic and full research on it. Therefore, the author chooses the Republic of China as the research topic and carries out systemic list and research on the topic on the basis of former study, and hopes to make some innovations.From the perspective of the development history of our university, the management of government has gone through a series of changes:from centralization to decentralization then back to centralization, that is, the gaming between university autonomy and national control:the university strives for autonomy, while our nation makes arduous efforts to strengthen control. During the competition of them, universities finally gained a certain extent of autonomy, and our nation further standardizes and coordinates the higher education. However, in general, it is our nation that gradually reinforces the management of university. The modern universities don’t fit into the conception of traditional ones which China used to have. The modern Chinese universities rose during Republic of China Period, but it manifests its strong characteristics of catching up from behind. In general, it takes only about ten years for modern Chinese universities, especially extremely excellent universities such as Peking University, Tsinghai University, Southeast University (later altered its name to Central University), Southwest Associated University and so on, to establish and take shape. So how did universities catch up from behind? Particularly, the Republic of China has undergone wars for38years. Universities had suffered tremendous loss in war and were forced to make a tough exploration of running schools independently. Thankfully, our final educational fruit was outstanding:it produced the best professors that our nation has ever had and educated generations of students approved by the Nobel Prize. This is a question that needs our consideration. This essay focuses on the research of state universities represented by Peking University, Tsinghai University, Southeast University, and Southwest Associated University during the Anti-Japanese War, makes an analysis on the central administrative institutions of education, university presidents, university management system, and university internal governance aspects in the period of Republic of China. Meanwhile it makes summary and analysis on the historic reality of the relationship between the government and universities, trying to find a successful historic case in order to draw lessons from the history and learn valuable experience from the relationship between the government and universities in the Republic of China. The essay will enrich the theories to a certain extent, and benefits the healthy development of the relationship of modern universities and government.