Zhuang Zexuan’s Higher Education Thoughts And Its Revelation For The Construction Of Modern University

Zhuang Zexuan(1895-1976) was a famous educator of Chinese in modern times. He won the "Boxer Indemnity" and studied in the US in 1917, a year later, he returned to China and presided the transformation of Tsinghua. After 1922, he has been teaching at Tsinghua University, Xiamen University, National Sun Yat-sen University, Zhejiang University, Guangzhou University, Lingnan University of Hong Kong and Nanyang University. In the long-term practice and exploration of higher education, by examining and comparing different countries’ development of higher education, absorbing the strengths of eastern and western higher education, reflecting the shortage of higher education in China, Zhuang Zexuan presented his own unique ideas of Higher Education. With literature research method, historical research method and comparative research method and other research methods, collect the first-hand information about Zhuang Zexuan extensively, comb with Zhuang Zexuan’s revolutionary and advanced thoughts of higher education, fill the descendants’ research gap for Zhuang Zexuan’s education thought, and then provide historical enlightenment for the construction of modern university.The formation of Zhuang Zexuan’s higher education thoughts has its specific reasons, including social background and personal experience two aspects. Political instability in Modern Chinese, abnormal development of the national economy, sham grandiose and national conditions of Chinese education situation, and the voice of "education Salvation" from patriotic intellectuals are thought to form the social environment; the early study experience in China and foreign countries and education practice are the personal reasons, which plays a foreshadowing role for refining Zhuang Zexuan’s idea of higher education. Zhuang Zexuan systematically elaborated his higher education thoughts from six aspects, that is the status and purpose of higher education, the administrative and logistics management of higher education, higher teacher’s employment and management, the setup of department and curriculum in university, the teaching contents and methods of higher education, the cultivation and management of college students. With the characteristics of the times, regional, realistic and comprehensive, these views have far-reaching influence in enriching his own education thoughts, consummating the modern theory of higher education and promoting the process of localization of modern higher education in our country. Zhuang Zexuan’s higher education thoughts provides an important revelation for the construction of modern university, including reasonably targeting modern higher education, selecting qualified university presidents and promoting logistics service socialization, adhere to the people-centered to build a first-class university teachers, optimizing the structure of higher education curriculum and improving the teaching content, innovating teaching methods of higher education, strictly managing university students. His higher education thoughts provide historical reference for solving the problems in the process of modern university construction in our country.