First, the historical background of the emergence and practice of Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school"
Judging from the evolution of western history, the concept of modern democracy appeared as early as the Enlightenment in Europe, and Rousseau's social contract theory is still considered as one of the basic theories of democratic thought. During the French Revolution, Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau all expounded the concept of democracy, and many forms of democracy in modern society originated from the classical theory of this period. This pursuit of democracy is also reflected in university management. As a school management system, "Professor Governing School" embodies the university's pursuit of academic freedom and academic autonomy. "Professor-run school" originated from Paris University in the Middle Ages, and later played an important role under the advocacy of German universities. Later, "professor running the school" also became the tradition of German universities, and German professors held great power at all levels of the university. Cai Yuanpei once said that Germany was extremely autocratic before the revolution, but their universities were very civilian, and their presidents and seniors (deans) of various subjects were elected by professors once a year. His principal is rotated by professors from four disciplines (theology, medicine, law and philosophy). 19 At the end of the 20th century, democratic ideas in universities in other countries were also on the rise. Taking the United States as an example, from the colonial period to the end of 19, professors played little role in college management; However, in the 20th century, the status of professors improved significantly. 19 15, some university professors initiated the establishment of the American Professors Association to protect the rights of professors.
Judging from the evolution of domestic history, in the late19th century, China's economic structure and class structure changed obviously, and the bourgeois old democratic revolution was on the rise. Under the heavy blow of the Boxer Rebellion and the impact of the bourgeois revolution, the conservative ruling clique in the Qing Dynasty realized that if it did not show any "innovation", it would be "all-round erosion" and "collapse and ruin are hard to recover". Therefore, the Qing government relaxed its resistance to western ideas in order to carry out political, economic and management reforms. It was basically during this period that modern schools in China began to introduce new things and new ideas from the West. It is in this situation that Cai Yuanpei applied the way of running a school he learned from German to China.
Judging from the history of Peking University, before Cai Yuanpei became president, Peking University presented a typical bureaucratic organizational structure with deep bureaucratic style and habits. The management system implemented by the school is a school supervisor adapted to feudal cultural autocracy. "All the affairs of the school are handled by the principal, the inspector and several general affairs directors. The seniors have never heard of it." . The school is full of corrupt and dreary air, but what is lacking is a democratic and harmonious atmosphere. Cai Yuanpei believes that "a university is a place to study profound knowledge" and should be managed by people who know academic knowledge. Therefore, the sharp contrast between ideal and reality prompted Cai Yuanpei to make a comprehensive reform of Peking University's administrative organization, following the example of German university education management system.
Second, the emergence, practice and connotation of Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school"
Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school" was formed on the basis of learning from the management experience of western universities. Cai Yuanpei advocates absorbing and drawing lessons from foreign advanced educational ideas while inheriting ancient cultural heritage. He believed that China's ancient education and western education should learn from each other's strong points, and advocated that we should learn from the excellent ideas of European and American education and come to China to reform the feudal old education in combination with the characteristics of China's cultural education. From 65438 to 0905, Cai Yuanpei joined the China League and was deeply influenced by the "Three People's Principles", which made him show a strong democratic tendency in education management. From 65438 to 0907, Cai Yuanpei studied in Germany, made in-depth observation and research on the German higher education system, and then went to France and other European countries to study and inspect, which made Cai Yuanpei more deeply understand the democratic thought of the western bourgeoisie. Among them, Germany's "professor-run school" system has a far-reaching influence on Cai Yuanpei and has become a model of "professor-run school" proposed by him. 19 12 1 year, Cai Yuanpei became the first education chief of the provisional government of the Republic of China, and his idea of "professor running the school" was first embodied in the University Order drafted by himself. "The university has a board of directors, whose members are selected from various scientific leaders and professors. The president of the university can call the board at any time and act as his own spokesperson. ..... Professors' meetings are set up in all disciplines of the university, with professors as members, and seniors can call the professors' meetings at any time to be the keynote speakers themselves "(2), which also marks the emergence of Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of" professors running the school ". However, this management thought was not put into practice until June 2007, when 1965438+ Cai Yuanpei became the president of Peking University.
The main purpose of Cai Yuanpei's "professorship" in Peking University is to protect education from the interference of bureaucratic warlords and imperialist forces. By improving the leadership system of Peking University, delegating power, giving the responsibility of promoting the development of the school to teachers, and letting people who really understand education manage the school. First, organize professors' meetings as the management body of each department. When Cai Yuanpei took office, Peking University had departments of literature, science, law, industry and commerce, and there were branches below. Professors' committees in all subjects are composed of all teachers except teaching assistants. By 19 18 * *, a professor meeting of 1 1 has been established. 19 19, change the door to department, * * * set 14 department. Professors' association is established in each department, and a director is elected by the professors' association for a term of two years. The task of the professors' meeting of each department is to participate in the planning of the teaching work of various disciplines in the department, which mainly includes: curriculum setting, textbook adoption, improvement of teaching methods, guidance of students' course selection, and assessment of students' performance. Second, set up the Academic Affairs Office and the General Affairs Office to lead the educational affairs and affairs of the whole school in a unified way. 19 19 In April, the science director was abolished and the academic affairs office was established. The academic affairs office is composed of the directors of professors' associations of various departments, and a dean is elected from them to assist the principal in leading the teaching work of the whole school for a term of one year. The first provost of Peking University was Ma Yinchu. At the same time, a general affairs office is established, and the general manager is appointed by the president from the general Committee. The term of office is longer than that of a professor, and can be renewed for two years, and he is in charge of the personnel and property work of the whole school. Third, set up an executive meeting as the highest administrative organ and executive organ of the whole school. The executive Committee is limited to professors and consists of the chairman of the special Committee, the provost and the general affairs director. The president is also the spokesman of the executive Committee. The Standing Council holds the administrative power of the whole school and is responsible for implementing the administrative affairs decided by the deliberation meeting. The Executive Council consists of a special committee composed of teachers, which is responsible for the administrative affairs of each part. Matters decided by the Council shall be supervised and guided by the executive meeting, and the special committees shall be responsible for the implementation. Fourth, the Council should be established as the highest legislative body and authority of the whole school. The Council consists of a chairman and judges selected from various scientific directors and professors. Every five professors elect a reviewer for a term of one year. The election can be held in public, or the name of the candidate can be written on the ballot paper, and the ballot paper will be submitted to the Council, which will then issue invoices to the public regularly. The headmaster is the chairman of the Council and is responsible for the convening and re-election of the Council. The main tasks of the Council include: deciding on the abolition of disciplines, formulating and reviewing the internal rules and regulations of the school, reviewing the academic titles of teachers and students' grades, reviewing students' discipline, and proposing the budget and final accounts of the school. All major school affairs must be approved by the board of directors.
The full implementation of Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school" in Peking University has changed the bureaucratic yamen style of the old Peking University, made progressive and prestigious professors participate in the highest decision-making of the school, made teachers the main body of school management, fully mobilized the enthusiasm of teachers, improved the efficiency of administrative work, and promoted Peking University from a university shrouded in feudal decadent ideas and bureaucratic habits to the center of the new cultural movement, an important place to spread Marxism-Leninism and an important place to advocate academic freedom and fashion.
During the period of 1925, Cai Yuanpei summarized and introduced Peking University's "professor-run school" system in "Modern University Ideas and Education Trends in China", and gave it an accurate connotation: "The first step of this reform is to organize a larger professors' association composed of various professors and lecturers to manage various departments. At the same time, choose the director from all subjects; Then choose a provost from these directors to take charge of all departments. Then the dean of the school will call all the department heads to cooperate in teaching management. As for Peking University's administrative affairs, the headmaster has the right to appoint some teachers to form committees such as the Books Committee, the Instruments Committee, the Finance Committee and the General Committee. Each committee elects a chairman, and at the same time, just as professors and lecturers form a professors' committee, these chairmen form their executive committee. The executive chairman of the association is elected by the headmaster. In this way, they formed a dual administrative management system, on the one hand, the professors' meeting, on the other hand, the administrative meeting. However, this organizational form is not perfect, because there is no legislature. Therefore, all personnel engaged in teaching are called to elect representatives and form a Council. This is what many people call the "professor-run" system of Peking University.
Through a profound understanding of the connotation of Cai Yuanpei's system of "Professor Governing School", we can understand that the essence of Cai Yuanpei's "Professor Governing School" is decentralization. In Cai Yuanpei's system of "professors running the university", the professors' meeting, the standing committee and the advisory council formed a pattern of separation of three powers, which separated school affairs, academic work and legislative work, so that the power of the university was reasonably distributed at all levels.
Thirdly, the enlightenment of Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school" to the reform of modern university internal management system.
Democratization, scientization and specialization are the goals of modern university internal management. Democratization, scientization and specialization are interrelated and inseparable. Among them, democratization is a prerequisite for scientific and professional development. Cai Yuanpei's democratic management thought of "professor running the school" provides historical basis and experience for realizing the democratization, scientification and specialization of university management, and has important enlightenment for the current reform of internal management system in universities in China.
1. further clarifies the administrative authority. At present, the leadership system of China's universities is "the principal responsibility system under the leadership of the Party Committee". Generally speaking, the organizational governance institutions of universities include leading institutions, executive institutions and supervision institutions. The leading body is the grass-roots committee of the higher education institutions of China * * * Production Party. The president of a university and its Council or the president's office are the executive organs of the university. At present, the teachers' congress is an institution that plays a supervisory role in colleges and universities in China. Article 43 of the Higher Education Law stipulates: "Institutions of higher learning shall, through organizations such as staff congresses, ensure that staff members participate in democratic management and supervision according to law and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. "But the current problem is: the current laws and regulations only divide the authority of the party committee, the principal and the teachers' congress in general, which objectively leads to the separation of the party and the government, unclear relations, and the role of the teachers' congress is difficult to play, thus making its decision-making lack of democracy and science. How to solve this problem, Cai Yuanpei's thought of "professor running the school" gives us inspiration. In Cai Yuanpei's "Professor Governing School", the president and the Academic Affairs Council exercise decision-making power, while the Standing Committee, the Academic Affairs Office and the General Affairs Office exercise command power. Teachers and students of the whole school have the right to supervise the above-mentioned personnel and institutions. Taking the Senate as the highest authority of the school, it sets up administrative, educational and general affairs to manage all the affairs of the school. This scientific and democratic organization and management form provides institutional support and guarantee for academic progress and scientific research. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate corresponding laws and regulations, further clarify the scope of power of party committees, principals and teachers' congresses, and separate decision-making power, command power, management power and supervision power.
2. Further reform governance institutions. As mentioned earlier, China's university governance institutions lack academic leadership. There is imbalance and disharmony between academic power and administrative power, which is mainly manifested as "too much administrative power and too little academic power". As the main body of running a university, professors do not give full play to their academic leadership and decision-making role, and academic management is often replaced by administrative management. For example, some major decisions related to the development of schools are generally discussed and passed by non-academic personnel; Major decisions involving teachers' vital interests, such as teacher evaluation and employment, are mostly made by non-academic personnel. This makes the scientific nature of evaluation questioned, and also makes university teachers bear heavy pressure. In order to complete the assessment task, they have to work hard between issuing papers and doing projects, and academic corruption and academic impetuousness also appear. In Cai Yuanpei's "professor-run school" system, we find that "professor-run school" is not only led by people with high academic qualifications, but the key is to set up corresponding institutions according to the nature of school affairs, so that the school's management institutions and organizational systems can form a multi-dimensional structure.
3. Diversification and decentralization of management subjects. The democratic management of colleges and universities should be understood from three aspects: first, the government should fully implement the autonomy of running schools; Second, give full play to the democratic participation and supervision of teachers and students in the internal management of schools; The third is to realize the democratization of social forces participating in higher education. Teachers and students in schools are both the objects and the subjects of management. Only by fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of teachers and students can we achieve the goal of running a school. It is necessary to put school management on the level of school mobilization, so that the objects involved in management can be expanded from party committees and administrations to organizations such as teachers' congresses, education trade unions, student unions and retirees' associations; Let the party Committee and the headmaster get rid of trivial micro-management and focus on macro-and medium-level management; Decentralizing school management power and distributing it to different organizations, institutions and parties, so that they can exercise their autonomy freely, is conducive to improving the sensitivity and flexibility of school management institutions, enhancing the ability to handle affairs at random and improving the innovation ability of grass-roots management institutions. Let people who really understand education manage education, which not only mobilizes the enthusiasm of experts and scholars, but also avoids the excessive power of principals and improves administrative efficiency and teaching quality.
4. Insist on people-oriented and awaken people's subjective consciousness through people-oriented management. In university management, teachers and students become the main body of university management through humanized care. Participating in school management as a master, on the one hand, arouses the enthusiasm of teachers and students, and improves the quality and effect of management; On the other hand, teachers and students have re-recognized their subjective status, awakened their subjective consciousness, and laid the foundation for education to promote people's all-round development.
As a gathering place of intellectuals, the implementation of democratic management in colleges and universities is determined by the essential attributes of China's socialist countries. Only by boldly exploring the democratic system of school management and realizing the scientificity and specialization of university management can universities stimulate the creative enthusiasm of intellectuals to the greatest extent, better realize the three basic social functions of universities, and play their due roles in building a harmonious socialist society.