Cai Yuanpei's school-running policy of "inclusiveness" put forward when he was the president of Peking University is the concentrated expression of his school-running thought in higher education and Cai Yuanpei's understanding of universities. He believes that "great scholars, great universities, including courtesy, attract many families", and further explains that "all things coexist without harming each other, and the Tao is parallel without contradicting each other" is enough to describe it [1]. In his view, this is not only a university, but also a universal law of objective things. His viewpoint not only contains the dialectical thought of "harmony" in China's ancient philosophy, but also conforms to the basic laws of higher education and academic development. The school-running policy of "inclusiveness" not only provided places and opportunities for the free discussion and dissemination of various progressive thoughts in society at that time, but also had academic value worthy of in-depth study in running higher education. Universities are not only educational and academic research institutions, but also the most important part of social culture and scientific and technological innovation system. Promoting social progress through scientific, technological and cultural innovation is the basic social function of universities. If the university is active and everyone can think and explore freely in a relaxed environment, then science and culture will change with each passing day and the whole society will be full of vitality; On the other hand, if the university is full of stale ideas and methods, a little innovation will be regarded as heresy, culture and science will be suppressed and destroyed, and social development will be hindered. Throughout the history of human society, such examples are not uncommon.
Cai Yuanpei emphasizes the research work of universities, which is the fundamental feature that distinguishes universities from primary and secondary schools and higher vocational colleges. In the speech of the president of Peking University, he put forward his own explanation of "university": "A great scholar is also a person who studies advanced knowledge" [2]. 19 12 years, when he was the chief education officer of the national government, he personally drafted and promulgated the university decree, proposing that "universities should set up large colleges for academic research", recruit graduates from various disciplines or "those who have the same academic ability through experiments" as "big college students", and stipulate that "big college students should study in colleges and have new ones" These reforms have laid the foundation for modern postgraduate education and degree work in China. An important feature that distinguishes universities from primary and secondary schools is that research occupies a very important position in universities. The function of research is unique to universities, which is determined by the position of universities in the system of social culture and scientific and technological innovation. The level of academic research represents the development level of a university. Universities provide students with not only ready-made knowledge, but also a good learning environment and a strong academic atmosphere. If a university teacher does not have innovative academic research, then his teaching cannot be at a high level for a long time. If the scientific research work in universities is not done well, there will be no stamina for the development of teaching work. Therefore, when Cai Yuanpei was the president of Peking University, in order to improve the quality of teaching and strengthen students' basic theoretical study, he did not simply talk about teaching, but emphasized teachers' scientific research work while strengthening teaching management. In his view, if teachers do not engage in scientific research, they will inevitably fall into a state of copying handouts and not seeking progress [4]. Peking University can occupy an important position in China's higher education, which is inseparable from Cai Yuanpei's advocacy of "learning profound knowledge", encouragement of "new invention theory" and efforts to create a good academic research atmosphere. Emphasizing the research nature of universities does not mean that all institutions of higher learning should become institutions that "study advanced knowledge". On the contrary, a country's higher education system should be multi-level, multi-category and multi-system, and cultivate all kinds of talents needed by society under different educational methods and management modes. 19 17, Cai Yuanpei put forward a proposal to reform higher education at the National Council of Colleges and Universities, arguing that colleges and universities should be set up separately according to arts and applied disciplines. He used "learning" and "learning" to distinguish the two types of institutions of higher learning at that time, and thought that "scholars can be described as universities and scholars as colleges" [5]. In his view, universities train scholars and improve people's academic quality in an all-round way, while universities train higher vocational and technical talents. Cai Yuanpei advocates that these two types of colleges and universities with different training objectives should have different ways of running schools. In universities, it is necessary to recruit lifelong learning scholars as teachers and train students to become research-oriented talents in an all-round way; Colleges and universities should attach importance to practical links, and can hire technicians, managers and other people engaged in practical work to carry out relevant teaching. In response to Zhou Chunyue's opposition to university restructuring, Cai Yuanpei explained: "There are differences in nature between the two, and there is no need for differences in years and degrees ... Based on these differences, one is called' big' and the other is called' high', which is easy to identify and has no other meaning." [6] It can be seen that he put these two types of schools in an equally important position. Cai Yuanpei's idea of setting up universities and colleges separately is mainly based on the German higher education model and has achieved remarkable results in Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States clearly classified higher education institutions as "research universities". In recent years, Britain has clearly put forward the diversion of "research-oriented" and "teaching-oriented" universities [7] in order to provide management mechanism guarantee for universities to give full play to various social functions.
Cai Yuanpei's "inclusive" policy of running a school not only means tolerating a hundred schools of thought contending in the university forum, but also contains the idea that schools should not interfere excessively in management. Under his leadership, Peking University embraces scholars from all schools, even the same course, and sometimes teachers from different schools teach at the same time. For example, Huang Kan of the old school and Qian of the new school teach philology together. Schools do not abandon a school because of different schools, nor do they interfere with their own teaching contents and methods. Students often listen to the opinions of both sides to cultivate the ability of independent thinking. In the appointment and management of teachers, Cai Yuanpei advocated "talent doctrine" and broke the age and qualification restrictions. At that time, the average age of professors at Peking University was only in their thirties, and both Li Dazhao and Hu Shi became professors in their twenties. Those who have expertise in learning, regardless of beliefs and factions, do not seek perfection, do not seek perfection and blame, and specialize in their skills. For example, Gu Hongming, who was hired, wore a melon hat and had a long braid, but his English was excellent; Liu was once one of the six gentlemen who served Yuan Shikai as emperor, but he was good at Confucian classics, literature and history, and showed his magical powers in Peking University. Cai Yuanpei resolutely dismisses those who have no education and quality, including those foreign teachers who make a living from it. To this end, John Newell Jordan, the British minister, had made representations to the Ministry of Education and even appealed to it, but Cai Yuanpei was unmoved [8]. He ruled the country by experts at Peking University and established the Professors Association. This democratic management system not only played an important role in getting rid of academic autocracy, but also greatly improved the work efficiency of the school. Cai Yuanpei attaches great importance to the important role of students in university management. At the welcome meeting where all the students of Peking University welcomed Cai Yuanpei back as president, he said that students' autonomy was seen from patriotic movements such as the May 4th Movement. Students "can maintain this autonomy in school, so management will not be a problem. To cultivate this automatic spirit, there is no other need except the guidance of several teachers who accumulate knowledge at any time and reference books and instruments for experiments [9]. Cai Yuanpei also pays special attention to the stability and continuity of management. He is committed to improving the democratic decision-making organization and system within the school, that is to say, "no one can be a principal at will." Even if he changes a president every year like a German university, he can guarantee that "the purpose of studying knowledge for gentlemen will never be hindered".
In a word, Cai Yuanpei's thoughts on running higher education are very rich, which shows its important academic value and practical significance.