民国初期科学研究在高等教育中的体制化开端——北京大学理科研究所的创建

The Institutionalization of Scientific Research in Higher Education during the Early Period of the Republic of China: The Establishment of the Science Institute at Peking University

民国初期中国的高等教育,伴随着1917年蔡元培对北京大学大刀阔斧的改革,出现了一个重要的开端。改革的重要成果之一是成立了理科研究所,它标志着科学研究从此在中国高等教育中获得了可贵的体制空间。其背景中既有德国高等教育理念的导入,又有中国近代社会变革向着思想文化层面的深入。北京大学理科研究所在十分艰难的境遇中起步,其简陋的条件和有限的经费尽管未能造成尽如人意的结局,但毕竟带来了一个重要的开端,而民国初期中国的高等教育,也正是在与学术研究的融合中,开始了真正意义上的植根于本土的发展,并由此揭开了建设中国新文化的序幕。

An important trend in Chinese higher education of the early Republican era was initiated in 1917, when Cai Yuanpei drastically reformed Peking University. One of the crucial acts of Cai＇s reform was the establishment of the Science Institute, which symbolized that scientific research had gained significant institutional space within higher education in China. This reform was influenced by German concepts of higher education, as well as the penetration of China＇s social transformations into the realms of ideology and culture. The Science Institute was launched under extremely difficult circumstances, and as a result of these harsh conditions and limited funding, it did not produce a satisfactory outcome. However, its establishment started the integration of higher education with academic research, and revealed the prelude to the domestication and localization of higher education in China, which formed a major part of China＇s new culture.