China News Agency, San Francisco, December 15th: How can education help build a bridge between China and the United States?
——Interview with Wu Jiawei, the first Chinese president of an American university
China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan
In recent decades, as batches of Chinese students have gone abroad to study, the exchanges between China and Western academic circles have become increasingly close.
In what ways can Eastern and Western education achieve mutual learning?
How can education help build bridges between China and the United States?
China News Agency's "West Questions" column recently interviewed Wu Jiawei, the first Chinese president of an American university and the founding president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and asked him to talk about his views on these issues.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Agency reporter: You mentioned "breaking the glass ceiling in academia" in "The Glass Ceiling: The Memoirs of Wu Jiawei". In this process, what are the advantages and challenges of your Chinese identity?
Wu Jiawei:
My path of teaching and research in the United States was completely along the way of academic practice, which can be said to be "following the rules".
I became the head of the department in my 30s, and became the dean and principal in my 40s, so I was said to have "broken the glass ceiling".
In this process, as a Chinese, I have encountered challenges, especially when I served as the president of San Francisco State University.
San Francisco has always been a diverse and complex city. San Francisco State University is the only public general university in the city. The "top leader" of the school is inevitably under the watchful eyes of the public. Suddenly, a man who grew up in Confucianism and another Many people are not used to the Chinese principal who has a management model and is not very obedient.
Picture Students from Chinese American International School in San Francisco, USA, put on Chinese costumes and performed to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
The proportion of local Chinese is the highest in the United States.
Photo by Chen Gang
On the road of teaching and research in the United States, there is no obvious advantage of Chinese identity, otherwise there will be no "glass ceiling".
But during my tenure as president of San Francisco State University, Confucian thinking brought some positive influences to my management style.
I often hold meetings with more than 10 individuals, including the vice president, the dean, and professor representatives, to discuss various issues.
When there is disagreement, there is a discussion, debate, or argument.
If the discussion is still deadlocked after half an hour, the American colleagues can't help it, and then ask to vote to end the debate.
And I think that if most people agree with a certain suggestion, it is a better ending.
At this time, I would say that we are all intelligent people, and if we talk more, we can always find a view that everyone can accept from various opinions.
Therefore, although the meetings I chaired took a long time, I always got a consensus with a high degree of support in the end.
Reporter from China News Agency: What kind of inspiration does your work experience in American universities bring to your work at HKUST?
Wu Jiawei:
On the eve of my return to China, Hong Kong's economy is facing a transformation, and it will definitely focus on technology.
At that time, Hong Kong will usher in the moment of returning to the motherland, and the "one country, two systems" policy has also been confirmed.
Against this background, a group of scholars with knowledge, experience and ideals decided to give up the rich resources and comfortable life abroad and establish a research university in Hong Kong with valuable team spirit.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is located on the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in Hong Kong.
Photo by Xie Guanglei
In particular, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, and returned to my original school as dean after ten years.
That experience made me realize that to run a university well, research and teaching must rely on truly first-class talents.
When we founded HKUST, we made every effort to find first-class talents in various academic fields to join us.
In addition, the liberal arts education concept of the University of California, San Diego has also inspired my work at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
At that time, the British Hong Kong government only allowed us to run colleges, engineering colleges and business schools, but I insisted on running a humanities and social sciences college at the same time.
I also want every student to actively participate in cultural, sports and team activities.
The school must cultivate the humanistic quality of the students, otherwise how can it be considered a university?
Humanities and social sciences can expand young people's horizons, straighten out their logic, and empower them to think deeply and make independent judgments.
It is difficult for people with narrow minds to achieve real innovation. Without a good environment for humanities and social sciences, technology cannot do well.
China News Agency reporter: You have worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for a long time, and you proposed the concepts of "Hong Kong Bay Area" and "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bay Area" in the 1990s. In terms of higher education, what experience can be provided to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area?
Wu Jiawei:
There are various types of universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the construction of higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area must also be diversified.
It is best to balance the development of research-oriented, teaching-oriented, professional, popular and other types of colleges and universities.
As for discipline construction, scientific and technological innovation, humanistic creation, and social science teaching and research are equally important, and various disciplines must be vigorously developed.
Research-oriented colleges and universities must pay attention to teaching, and teaching-oriented colleges and universities cannot ignore research.
In the 16th Jiangsu Provincial College Students' Physics and Experimental Science and Technology Works Innovation Competition, contestants are debugging their works.
Photo by Yang Yu
In addition, higher education cannot focus exclusively on applied research, and basic research must not be ignored.
In the past, China's economy lagged behind for too long, and it needed to develop rapidly to catch up with developed countries, so it trained a large number of applied talents in a short period of time.
But very critical basic research has not received due attention.
As the cornerstone and carrier of scientific and technological innovation and breakthroughs, it is time to vigorously develop basic research.
China News Agency reporter: In what aspects can Eastern and Western education achieve mutual learning?
Wu Jiawei:
Western developed countries have developed their own unique educational models due to their different histories and backgrounds. The educational systems of France, Germany, Britain, and the United States are very different.
In the process of learning from the West, China should make good choices according to its own actual situation and needs, and develop an educational model that suits its national conditions.
In recent decades, the number of colleges and universities in China has increased dramatically, and the level has improved accordingly.
At present, the number of general and vocational college students in China is more than 10 million every year, and the number of master's and doctoral students is more than 1 million and 100,000 respectively.
Some people say that there are so many Chinese graduates that many college students cannot find jobs, but I think the current number of colleges and universities and the scale of enrollment are quite reasonable.
There are more than 3,000 colleges and universities in China. The population of the United States is less than a quarter of that of China, but the number of colleges and universities is even greater.
The 2021 undergraduate graduates of Peking University took a photo in front of the school name.
Photo by Jiang Qiming
The problem with China's higher education is not the quantity, but the unbalanced development.
Excellent universities in the United States are distributed all over the country, but the best universities in China are mainly concentrated in several large coastal cities.
"Top students" from all corners of the country are attracted to these big cities, and most of them don't want to go back to their hometown after graduation.
China urgently needs to promote the balanced development of various undertakings such as education, economy, and culture among regions, so that underdeveloped regions are attractive to talents.
China's higher education needs to moderately introduce liberal arts undergraduate education in line with national conditions.
At the same time, we should abandon the superstition of university rankings, the pursuit of quantification of papers and patent rights, and the excessive worship of academic titles, just like Western society.
On the contrary, some Chinese educational concepts are also worth learning from the West.
From the beginning of the Renaissance, "individualism" gradually prevailed in the western world.
Confucianism, on the other hand, advocates a "collective" consciousness, and in addition to self-cultivation, one must care for and pay attention to the collective happiness of the family, society, and the country.
These awarenesses are inspired by education.
Some educational methods in China are also worthy of reference by the West.
I once watched a British TV program in which a group of high school teachers from Shanghai went to a high school in London to teach.
When the teacher enters the classroom, the students should stand up and shout "Hello, teacher" in unison.
Students cannot talk during class, and there is a lot of homework after class.
British students were not used to this education method at first, but after a period of time, they not only began to appreciate the education method of Chinese teachers, but also improved their test scores a lot.
China News Agency reporter: In your memoir "Co-creation of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: Stories and Characters in the Start-up Period", there is a chapter "Helping to build a bridge between China and the United States-going home". In your opinion, how should education help build bridges between China and the United States?
Wu Jiawei:
When I wrote this memoir, it was indeed a good time to use academic exchanges and cooperation to help build bridges between China and the United States.
After many years of backwardness and rigidity, China has finally opened its doors.
Some outstanding international students and scholars with ideals have absorbed advanced knowledge and skills in the West, and then went to their hometowns to make a lot of contributions to the country's restart and development.
At the same time, American scientific research also needs Chinese talents.
At this stage, some scientific research cooperation between the two countries has been quite successful.
The 2009 China International Education Exhibition with the theme of "International Education, Achievement of the Future" was held in Beijing.
Photo by Wu Mangzi
Americans also believe that they too can learn from China in many ways.
As more and more American companies develop in China, the number of Americans learning Chinese is gradually increasing.
These people go to work in the Chinese branches of American companies, improve their skills through cooperation with China, and then go back to their hometowns.
However, at this stage, the political situation in the United States is not optimistic. The situation of internal division and opposition between the two parties makes politicians seek foreign enemies to win votes, and academic exchanges between China and the United States will inevitably be affected.
Whether the status quo can be improved depends on the political attitude of the United States.
The American academic community also needs to work hard to overcome obstacles, so that the academic exchanges between the two countries can return to the good state of the past as soon as possible.
In addition to resuming cooperation with American academic circles as much as possible, the Chinese academic circle must also expand the scope and objects of international exchanges, vigorously strengthen academic cooperation with Europe, Southeast Asia and other places and the "BRICS countries", and build more "bridges" on the "Belt and Road" ".
(Finish)
Respondent profile:
Wu Jiawei was born in Shanghai in 1937, moved to Hong Kong in 1949, and went to the United States to study in 1955.
In 1966, Wu Jiawei received a doctorate in physics from Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
He served as the dean of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University and the dean of the Gefer College at the University of California, San Diego. He became the president of San Francisco State University in 1983, becoming the first Chinese president of an American university.
In 1988, Wu Jiawei was invited back to Hong Kong to serve as the founding president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he served for 13 years.
After returning to Hong Kong, Wu Jiawei served successively as a consultant for Hong Kong affairs, a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, chairman of the Mainland and Hong Kong Science and Technology Cooperation Committee, and a member of the Shenzhen Municipal Decision-Making Advisory Committee.