建設世界一流大學的中國道路－－近代中國大陸著名大學經驗與教訓的反思

Chinese Approach to World-class University: Reflection on the Practice of the Famous Universities in Early Modern China

中國近代著名大學確實有許多值得今天學習的地方，但如果把近代一百多年作為一個整體來看，結論尌不那麼簡單：僅僅採用西方的制度形式是容易的，而一旦涉及到學科建設、教育目標、學校與社會和政府的關係的時候就矛盾重重、舉步維艱。究其原因是中西方文化體系的不相容所致。幾位校長的中西文化知識結構與其教育思想的聯繫可以反映這一點。今天的中國大學急需以學術自由的方式開展對中西文化與世界一流大學建設關係的大討論，其重要性不亞於近代初期；當年蔡元培以文科改革為重點和突破的策略，仍然是今天中國大學的首要任務；此外，學術自由、學校自治的原則是大學的靈魂。不過，在涉及知識領域以外的政府－學校－社會關係問題上，需要考慮中國的特殊性和發展過程上的循序漸進。

The well-known Chinese universities in early modern times do have some merits for today's universities to learn. However, if we enlarge our perspective to the whole century-long period, the conclusion would not be so simple. History has demonstrated that it was easier to adopt the western administrative system into Chinese university campuses than to deal with academic issues including scientific research and development of the disciplines, educational aims, and the relationship with the outside society etc. The reason is related to the cultural incompatibility between the West and the East. This can be reflected by the connections between the knowledge structures of the university presidents and their educational philosophy. Therefore, it is proposed that it is still necessary for today's universities to carry out a public debate among university faculty members on the relationships between the East and the West in terms of world class university building. The strategy employed by Cai Yuanpei to take humanities as a breakthrough of the whole reform is still applicable to the current situation. In addition, history tells us academic freedom and institutional independency should be treated as the soul of the university. However, in dealing with the resources of the input and the relationships among university-society-government in this aspect, the special Chinese character should be taken into account.