There is more than one standard for a good university. The classification evaluation of colleges and universities respects the basic laws of college diversity. It is necessary to continuously absorb colleges and universities to deeply participate in the iterative update of the classification and evaluation system of colleges and universities, and constantly improve the functions of performance evaluation, diagnostic analysis and value discovery of the evaluation system.

Diversity is also a basic feature of higher education entering the stage of popularization. Only when different types of colleges and universities pursue excellence and develop their own characteristics can higher education provide comprehensive support for national modernization.

  Zhang Duanhong, Deputy Director, Institute of Higher Education, Tongji University

  How can we fairly and objectively evaluate the level of running a university?

Recently, Jiangxi handed over its own "answer sheet".

  The "Implementation Measures for the Classification Management of General Undergraduate Universities in Jiangxi Province (Trial Implementation)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Measures") issued by the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education, starting from the construction of a classification system for universities, promoting the development of classification and evaluation of universities, and accelerating the promotion of the connotation of universities characteristic development.

  In fact, Jiangxi's approach is not the first. In recent years, classified management of colleges and universities has blossomed everywhere in our country.

  Set development paths for different colleges and universities

  "The goal of classified assessment management in colleges and universities is to accelerate the construction of a high-quality higher education system and promote higher education to 'break through'." The relevant person in charge of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education introduced.

  A reporter from Science and Technology Daily learned from the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education that the "Implementation Measures" are based on the actual situation of Jiangxi universities and combined with the needs of Jiangxi's economic and social development. Jiangxi's general undergraduate colleges are generally divided into "research-oriented" and "application-oriented". Among them, research-oriented is further divided into Academic research and teaching research.

  According to the overall development plan and specific classification standards of colleges and universities in Jiangxi Province, the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education, combined with the school's willingness to declare, conducts overall research to determine the types of colleges and universities, and officially launched the classification management of 43 ordinary undergraduate colleges and universities, of which 4 colleges are positioned as academic research-oriented colleges and universities. , 9 universities are positioned as teaching and research universities, 30 universities are positioned as application-oriented universities, and it is planned to select 8-10 demonstration application-oriented universities from the application-oriented universities to give key support and construction.

  What are the standards for classifying and assessing the management of colleges and universities?

  The person in charge mentioned that such a classification system not only takes into account the development foundation and practical conditions of colleges and universities, but also a guiding framework for promoting the classification planning and development of colleges and universities.

Research-oriented universities should focus on strengthening the construction of first-class disciplines and backbone disciplines, actively develop postgraduate education, accelerate the construction of national high-level universities, and strive to enter the national "double first-class" universities; application-oriented universities actively meet the needs of local industries, and encourage the appropriate development of professional degree graduate education. , and strive to build an applied undergraduate education system that matches the economic and social development of Jiangxi.

  "Jiangxi implements differentiated classification assessment, and develops two types of evaluation index systems for research-oriented and application-oriented colleges and universities. In the aspects of first-class majors, first-class courses, teaching achievements, teaching reform projects, and famous teaching teachers, respectively, set up tracks and use different evaluations. In addition, Jiangxi has established a mechanism for competition within the same type and cooperation between different types to stimulate the endogenous power of colleges and universities. At the same time, Jiangxi also strengthens the guiding role of classified evaluation results, and gradually promotes classified evaluation results and distribution of educational resources, policy support, Team assessment, total performance salary approval, etc. are 'hard-linked'." The person in charge said.

  "The concept of classified management in colleges and universities is 'tailor-made', that is, to formulate a differentiated and developmental quality standard system according to the actual situation of the object, so as to prevent colleges and universities from disregarding their own development reality and 'cutting their feet to fit their feet' according to a unified standard." Nanchang Teachers College Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Principal Zhang Yanguo said.

  Classified Management Promotes Differential Development of Colleges and Universities

  Some people think that the lack of differentiation in some colleges and universities in my country is mainly due to the convergence of management models and evaluation orientations.

The reform of classified management of colleges and universities has always been regarded as a key move to get rid of the problem of "one thousand schools".

  Zhang Duanhong, deputy director of the Higher Education Research Institute of Tongji University, believes that classified management of colleges and universities will bring revolutionary changes to higher education.

  First of all, classified management changes the development of colleges and universities from "one column" to "multi-column", which helps the whole society to coordinate educational resources, better serve the needs of discipline construction and industry, and overcome the urge to pursue scale development and comprehensive transformation. , strengthen the endogenous driving force for the development of colleges and universities by classification and characteristics.

  Secondly, classified management can allow colleges and universities to clarify their own development goals and establish an evaluation system that is suitable for them, so as to clearly present the strengths and weaknesses of colleges and universities, scale and efficiency, comprehensive level and individual level, etc.

  "There is more than one standard for a good university. The classification evaluation of colleges and universities respects the basic law of diversity of colleges and universities. It is necessary to continuously absorb colleges and universities to participate in the iterative update of the classification and evaluation system of colleges and universities, and constantly improve the functions of performance evaluation, diagnostic analysis and value discovery of the evaluation system. Diversity is also a basic feature of higher education entering the stage of popularization. Only when different types of colleges and universities pursue excellence and develop their own characteristics can higher education provide comprehensive support for national modernization.” Zhang Duanhong said.

  In the future, we should focus on accelerating the construction of classification standards

  The problem of classified management of higher education is a major subject that our country has focused on researching and solving since the 21st century.

In March 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of the Vision for 2035" voted by the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress once again emphasized the need to "promote classified management and Comprehensive reform of higher education institutions to build a more diverse higher education system.”

  It is reported that in 2015, Shanghai issued the "Shanghai Higher Education Layout Structure and Development Plan (2015-2030)", taking the lead in implementing the reform of classified management of colleges and universities in the country.

In 2018, Shanghai conducted classified management of 62 ordinary colleges and universities in the city.

The success of the classified management of colleges and universities in Shanghai not only broke the trend of homogeneous running of higher education, but also set a good example for colleges and universities across the country.

Shanghai has actively summed up its successful experience in the evaluation of higher education, and has formed a replicable "Shanghai Model". Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning, Tianjin and other places have also carried out classified management of colleges and universities.

  However, with the rapid development of higher education in my country, the structure of higher education is becoming more and more complex, and the society's demands for higher education are becoming more and more diverse.

According to a latest statistical data on the self-positioning of undergraduate colleges by the Chinese Higher Education Association, there are more than 60 kinds of self-positioning of 2,738 ordinary colleges and universities in my country.

Judging from the name or description of the self-positioning of colleges and universities, it is relatively messy and lacks normative, and even nearly 28.1% of colleges and universities have not given a clear classification.

In addition, as far as colleges and universities have clarified their self-categorization, many colleges and universities, including some "double first-class" colleges and universities, almost universally have problems such as the inconsistency of the school's classification with the actual school-running behavior, and the blind pursuit of "high-level" in order to obtain favorable resources.

The existence of these problems is not unrelated to the lack of a unified and recognized classification standard for colleges and universities.

Therefore, in response to the above problems, many education experts believe that accelerating the introduction of various colleges and universities setting standards, adjusting resource allocation plans, and accelerating the implementation of college classification evaluation should become the focus of the construction of my country's higher education classification management system in the future.

  "It is recommended that the education management department examine the input and output of running a school, the history and performance of running a school, the advantages and characteristics of running a school, etc. in multiple dimensions, and clarify the running standards and direction of running a school in each university. Fair competition; universities of different types and levels strengthen cooperation and jointly cultivate cross-field, compound, and high-level talents." Professor Liu Zhentian of the Education Research Institute of Xiamen University believes that in the current top-level design of my country's higher education classification management system, the government has There are no clear standards for setting up different types of colleges and universities.

The lack of classification standards has seriously affected the deepening and advancement of my country's higher education classification management reform.

At present, my country's higher education has entered the stage of popularization. If the problem of setting standards in colleges and universities is not solved in time, the classification management will be more complicated and difficult.

  Zhang Yanguo also believes that it is particularly important to formulate scientific classification and evaluation standards and index systems.

Only when the evaluation results are used reasonably can the functions of evaluation such as orientation, incentive and adjustment can be better played, so that colleges and universities can enter the fast lane of rapid development and sound development, and form a good situation in which talents are produced in large numbers.