If it weren't for the frog in the well and arrogance, we have to admit that even the most famous universities in China are still far behind the world-class universities. Not to mention Harvard, Stanford, Yale, even the University of Tokyo in Japan, the University of Edinburgh in Britain, and the University of Munich in Germany, we can only match them. In the ranking of world universities published by The Times, Peking University ranks 17. However, in Newsweek's recent ranking of world-famous universities, no university in China is in the top 100. What colleges and universities in China lack is not buildings and facilities, or even professors and doctors, but the spirit of independence, the idea of freedom and the idea of pursuing Excellence.
Mei Yiqi, the old president of Tsinghua University, famously said, "A great scholar is not a building, but a master." . The president of Princeton University once had an incisive exposition on the university spirit. He believes that the spirit of a successful world-class university includes four most important aspects, namely, the pursuit of Excellence, the combination of teaching and research, academic freedom and scientific management. Colleges and universities in China just lack the university spirit, so it is difficult to form their own culture. The superficial glitz and excitement can't cover up the inner pallor and emptiness. Under the thinking of worshipping hardware, some colleges and universities make great efforts to build buildings, spend a lot of money to build beautiful star-rated bathrooms, spend millions to install the most modern sightseeing elevators, invest tens of millions to build school gates, and so on. Their concept and realm are not much different from those of "nouveau riche". Pursuing the goal of a first-class university with this idea is tantamount to seeking fish from a tree.
First-class universities should pursue Excellence, but Excellence is not empty talk. Excellence is reflected in every job and every value orientation. And this kind of Excellence is what everyone should pursue, not only academic and scientific researchers, but also managers. But many universities in China have ignored this point. At present, it is a common phenomenon in many universities in China that the backbone professors in the school have high income and good conditions, but there are many things to deal with. They spend their energy on balancing various relationships and catering to various evaluation systems and advantageous projects, but they have no time and energy to pursue Excellence.
Contrary to the pursuit of Excellence, academic corruption is prevalent, and it is not uncommon to cheat the world and steal fame. Hong, a deputy to the National People's Congress, hit the nail on the head and pointed out that plagiarism, deception and name theft are common occurrences, from academicians and doctoral supervisors to graduate students and college students. Academic corruption has developed from individual behavior of scholars to collective and group behavior, and has the trend of institutionalization and rationalization. A group of famous scholars openly and blatantly deceived the government, public opinion and society. A typical example is the plagiarism of one of the "top ten teachers" in a school. Hanxin faked intellectual property rights and defrauded the country of huge investment.
The backbone of universities is supported by elites with independent spirit, masters with free thinking and scholars with scientific thinking. They should not be troubled by all kinds of barriers, seduced by all kinds of fame and fortune, and influenced by all kinds of trends. With noble sentiments, elegant tastes and noble conduct, they are willing to be lonely, indifferent, focused and determined, and with their precious creativity and innovation, they have created a new world of academics and research. The reality is that some so-called elites in China have little influence in the world, but they are the leaders of domestic academic rivers and lakes, full of domineering and arrogant. They desperately suppressed young teachers with innovative spirit and creativity in other universities, and even strangled them in the cradle to protect their reputation, status, power and interests. Some even become spokespersons for some interest groups.
Universities in China still have a long way to go to achieve the goal of being a world-class university.