Universities are a kind of schools that implement higher education, including comprehensive universities, specialized universities and colleges. It is an organization with unique functions, an institution of higher learning that inherits, studies, integrates and innovates advanced academic knowledge, and is interrelated with social, economic and political institutions.
It is not only the product of the development of human culture to a certain stage, but also a unique culture gradually formed on the basis of long-term school-running practice through historical accumulation, self-efforts and external environmental influence.
Universities have a history of thousands of years. At first, it mainly developed from Germany, Britain and other countries. Modern universities in China originated in the West, which evolved from European medieval universities, British universities, German universities and then American universities. No matter what era the university is, it is a creative inheritance rather than a denial of previous universities.
The development of universities:
The emergence of medieval universities in Europe was closely related to religious education at that time. Its idea is to pursue the spiritual world beyond national boundaries and educate people's hearts.
The idea of British universities is mainly to cultivate educated gentlemen. According to Newman, a British educator in the middle of the19th century, the purpose of a university is to "impart" knowledge rather than "develop" it, that is, the university is a "teaching institution", and the purpose of imparting this knowledge is to cultivate gentlemen, mainly to cultivate people's values.
While developing universities in Britain, Germany also began to develop university education. Humboldt, a famous German scholar, and others believe that universities should not only impart knowledge, that is, cultivate people's values, but also "develop" knowledge, that is, the primary task of teachers is to engage in "creative learning" freely. The idea of German universities is more advanced than that of British universities.