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Education First or Profession First
NAME
M.A. Programme
Institute of International Education
DATE
CONTENTS
1. Introduction..........................................……3
1.1 Definition of education..........................................……3
1.2 Definition of higher education..........................................……4
1.3 Function of higher education..........................................……5
1.4 Social service function of higher education..........................................……8
1.5 Purpose of this thesis.......................................9
1.6 Structure of the thesis.......................................10
2. Methodology..........................................……10
2.1 Reference to relative information..........................................……10
2.2 Case study..........................................……11
3. Innovation of higher education and its social service function..............................11
3.1 Innovation of organization and mechanism of universities.............................11
3.2 Innovation of social service function of universities................................13
4. Case study..........................................……13
4.1 Higher education in China..........................................……16
4.2 Higher education in Sweden ..........................................……16
4.3 Summary ..........................................……18
5. Conclusion ..........................................……21
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Definition of education
What is education? It is a means necessary for the growth
of a new generation and the development of the society and
should be regarded as a social behavior of informing people.
According to the Chinese educationist Tao Xingzhi, “education
is the tool and media for telling people how to invent and
create things and how to make use of spiritual and material
resources.” (Selected Educational Theories of Tao Xingzhi，Science
and Education Publishing House，1981)
The word “education” originated form Latin word “EDUCO”, which
means “to induce and to build up from the inner world of a
person.” That is a philosophical conception promoted by Plato
who believed that the spirit of men is forever existing and
so is the knowledge of men.
There are different opinions on the definition of education.
Most people think that to receive education is to go to school.
However the famous entrepreneur Wang Yongqing holds that learning
and working should be both regarded as education.(Chinese
Entrepreneur Workshop 2000). It is true that a lot of great
minds such as Edison did not received formal education from
a university.
Now let’s try to see this from another aspect. Education
itself is a kind of process of spiritual production and therefore
it has its own value. One of the most representative views
is from Cao qingyang. In his opinion, first, education is
the basis and agency for the transformation from technology
to productivity. Only when technology is perceived by people
can it finally valuable and the quality of human beings depend
on education. Thus education is the basis and resources of
technology. Second, education departments, especially universities
and colleges, are the important hotbed for the technology
development. Third, education departments are of great significance
in the spread of technology. Fourth, education departments
are the vital bridge for the promotion of technology. Therefore,
the value of education can be divided as the cost value, hidden
value and long-term value. (Tong Yangfen, Chen Rufeng, Value
and Potential of Education，1994)
The main factor of education is people whose quality is a
important factor in today’s competition of national power.
As we stated before, since the improvement of quality should
be based on the development of education, the education departments
should be priority in any country. We should be futuristic
when we look at the education field. Thus the education has
to be modernization-oriented, world-oriented and future-oriented.
Not only the concept of education for all should be popularized
but also the higher education should be paid more attention
to.
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