At the beginning of this year, news of Peking University and Tsinghua University opening up undergraduate courses to each other was screened on the Internet.
Many netizens joked that now they finally no longer have to entangle the issue of Beijing University or Shanghai Tsinghua University.
In fact, the open courses between Beiqing and Qinghai had related explorations many years ago, and this exchange course was restarted from the beginning of 2020 and has been running stably for one year.
As the vanguard of Chinese universities, this move by Peking University and Tsinghua University undoubtedly produced a lot of demonstration effects.
In recent years, many colleges and universities have explored resource sharing and curriculum exchange, and the "wall" between universities is no longer as unbreakable as people think.
Many people in the education sector believe that these measures have on the one hand revitalized the existing teaching resources of many universities, and on the other hand, they also provide more possibilities for cultivating compound talents.
It is understood that in the spring semester of 2021, Peking University and Tsinghua University will open up a new course cooperation, opening a total of 83 courses and 695 places.
Among them, Peking University will open 56 core general courses, including 396 places, to Tsinghua undergraduates; Tsinghua University will open 27 high-quality courses, including 299 places, to Peking University students.
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, Fu Suiyan, Director of the Academic Affairs Department of Peking University, said that Peking University and Tsinghua University have a good foundation for cooperation and a long tradition of cooperation.
It is understood that the life science colleges of the two universities have already opened up mutual selection of courses.
On January 13, 2020, the Academic Affairs Department of Peking University and the Academic Affairs Office of Tsinghua University issued a notice at the same time, announcing that the two schools reached a consensus to open some undergraduate courses at the school level and recognize each other's credits.
Fu Suiyan said, "This is indeed the first time that various high-quality courses are open to undergraduates in the whole school and credits are mutually recognized. This will be more conducive to the sharing of teaching resources between the two schools."
For the students of the two schools, the "net celebrity class" at the next school is very attractive.
"I hope to experience the different learning atmospheres and interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary courses of the two universities." Student Liang from the School of Physics of Peking University chose the "3D Printing Creative Design and Production" offered by Tsinghua University Basic Industry Training Center in the fall semester of 2020.
He has been very interested in various experiments and operations since he was a child, and hopes to have the opportunity to experience the joy of personally designing and making objects in the laboratory.
After failing to grab a class last semester, this semester, Wang Tianyu from Xinya College of Tsinghua University stayed in front of the course selection system early and successfully grabbed the "Introduction to Philosophy" class given by Li Meng.
According to the training plan of Xinya College, he has taken a basic course in philosophy. In fact, he does not need the credits for this course. However, he is still willing to ride to and from Peking University twice a week to grab the top two rows. According to him, he took notes of more than 3,000 words in each class to "chase academic stars."
Regarding the selection of open courses, Fu Suiyan revealed that the two schools initially chose courses with their own characteristics and advantages based on their respective teaching resources and advantages, without affecting the selection of courses for their students.
"Tsinghua University may provide more engineering courses, including some hands-on practical courses. Peking University mainly focuses on humanities, science, social sciences, etc., and includes some general courses that are very popular among students. In the future, we will build on the existing foundation. Gradually expand the scope of elective courses and steadily advance the number of open courses and the number of students."
Fu Suiyan believes that by providing students with more learning opportunities outside the school, students' horizons will be expanded and their learning autonomy will be greater.
"On the one hand, we encourage students to build their own knowledge structure. To meet the needs of student development, schools need to increase the supply of various high-quality courses. No matter how good a school, teaching resources are bound to be limited. Through the sharing of courses between schools, It can effectively explore the potential of existing teaching resources, giving students more choices and more possibilities for knowledge construction. Generally speaking, I think this method is a good supplement to existing teaching resources." Fu Suiyan said.
On the other hand, Fu Suiyan said that every university has its own culture and temperament, allowing students to experience different university traditions during the university period, and expanding their friendship contacts, which is also very good for students' future life development.
Nowadays, some "CP colleges and universities", such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, which are geographically close and run at the same level, have carried out measures such as course sharing and mutual recognition of credits.
For example, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement in 2011. The two schools each exchange undergraduates and postgraduates to study in each other's schools each year, open courses and recognize each other's credits.
In 2019, the presidents of five Henan universities, including North China University of Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power and Henan Agricultural University, signed a cooperation framework agreement on mutual selection of inter-school courses and mutual recognition of credits, and the first implementation of mutual selection of inter-school courses and mutual recognition of credits in Henan universities, undergraduates can do Select courses across schools.
Not long ago, when responding to a CPPCC proposal, the Ministry of Education pointed out that in recent years, the Ministry of Education has issued a number of policies to actively promote the mutual recognition of credits between universities and gradually improve the online credit recognition mechanism.
In the next step, the Ministry of Education will use the online teaching practice during the epidemic as an opportunity to guide universities to gradually improve the credit system, formulate scientific and reasonable credit recognition systems and standards, expand students' learning autonomy and choice, and create conditions for students to choose credits.
What is the point of breaking the walls between universities in this way?
Lu Xiaodong, a researcher at the School of Education of Peking University, said that the initiative of Peking University and Tsinghua University has achieved complementary advantages between universities and has a good demonstration effect.
"We need to bring down the'invisible wall'. This is not because Peking University is cultivating talents or Tsinghua University is cultivating talents, but that everyone is working together to cultivate outstanding talents for the country, society, and the world. This kind of opening up the wall has Important demonstration significance and strategic significance. Teaching training should not be limited to one school. We should open this door and jointly promote talent training." Lu Xiaodong told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter.
Lu Xiaodong said that it is a general trend to further break down the "wall" between universities and promote mutual recognition of credits between universities, but the "technical problems" need to be resolved.
"To promote mutual recognition of credits, we must also establish a complete credit accounting mechanism. Only when a strict credit financial accounting mechanism is established between colleges and universities can the'credit recognition' go deeper and further."
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Ye Yuting