The earliest universities established and continued to this day are the University of Bologna in Italy, the University of Paris in France, the University of Oxford in Britain and the University of Cambridge. The school-running mode of medieval universities was professional from the beginning, which trained professionals such as officials, judges, priests and doctors needed by society. Therefore, training professionals is the earliest and most basic social function of universities.
Developing science is an important social function of colleges and universities.
When medieval universities appeared, modern science had not yet appeared, and naturally there was no function of developing science. After 15, the industrial revolution laid the technical foundation for scientific development, which requires providing theories and methods for solving increasingly complex production technical problems. Scientific research has begun to be valued by the society, and the society needs a group of talents specializing in scientific research. In the past, the way of teaching and training production technology in time relying on personal experience can no longer meet the needs of society. In this way, colleges and universities will certainly become the most ideal places to train scientific research talents.
serve the society
Like the development of science, the function of directly serving the society of colleges and universities is not only the objective need of society, but also the logic of its own development. As the center of social and cultural science, colleges and universities are in a leading position in social culture, science and technology, medical care and health, and can and should play a guiding or consulting role in all aspects of society, especially local work; We should contact the society extensively in various ways and try our best to help solve various theoretical and practical problems encountered in social development. Such as joint scientific research with production units, technical guidance, as a consultant for factories and enterprises, holding training courses or amateur schools, and undertaking the task of continuing education for the society. There are various forms and contents of direct social services in colleges and universities. According to the characteristics of different disciplines and majors, we should actively create conditions and do a good job in social service.
Cultural inheritance and innovation
The foundation of culture is morality. Morality is the life of education, and education without morality is evil. The moral level of a nation is not observed by the number and proportion of offenders, but reflected by education. One of the reasons why universities are respected is that there are great virtues, avenues, great love, masters and great gods in universities. These "big five" make universities a highland of morality and a fortress of social conscience. When society needs new morality, it will invariably look for it in universities, and universities will also become warehouses of social morality. Teachers and students in universities constitute a moral isomorphism. "The way of university lies in virtue, in new people and in perfection". Only when universities understand their own virtues and pursue perfection can they create "new people" from generation to generation. It is through "virtue", "right path" and "goodness" that universities lead and demonstrate the formation of a national cultural foundation. The bond of culture is knowledge. Universities are the same body of knowledge. All university activities are linked by knowledge. University teaching is to spread knowledge, university scientific research is to innovate knowledge, university serves the society by using knowledge, university library and information is to collect and process knowledge, and university international exchange is to exchange knowledge. Knowledge is the connotation of a university.
Social choice or personal promotion, and social criticism.
Production and reproduction of productive forces
Higher education should absorb other disciplines' understanding of the social functions of colleges and universities from these different angles, and explore the regularity of higher education on a broader basis.
Diversified giant universities
Cole, one of the most famous contemporary American higher education thinkers, put forward the concept of "diversified mega-university", which holds that the function of a university is a complex network, including production function, consumption function and citizen function.