超越象牙塔:现代大学的社会责任

Transcend the tower of ivory: social responsibility of modern universities

早期的西方大学曾经具有与社会保持一定距离 ,以维护其学术研究和教学自由的历史传统。随着社会的发展 ,大学逐步走出了“象牙塔”,与社会的联系越来越密切 ,同时也使大学面临一种艰难的选择———如何既适应社会又崇尚学术 ,怎样才能在为经济和社会发展需要服务的同时保持大学应有的独立品格和价值追求。人类社会已经进入了全球化时代 ,时代强烈呼唤大学不仅要走出“象牙塔” ,还要超越“象牙塔” ,全面承担起时代赋予大学的教育责任、学术责任。

Early universities in the West once had the tradition of keeping distance with the society in order to maintain its freedom for teaching and academic research. With the development of society, universities gradually stepped out of the tower of ivory to keep closer contact with society. It was a great progress and also confronted the universities with a hard choice: how to meet the social demands but uphold the reverence of academy at the same time, how to serve the economic and social development but maintain independence in pursuit of character and value at the same time. In the time of globalization and the turning from society of industrial economy to knowledge economy, universities are not only required to step out of but also transcend the tower of ivory, taking up the responsibility endowed in education, academy, serving and leading the forward of the society as well as international responsibilities. These are crucial topics in university culture studies, and also the precondition and basis for university and education creation in new conditions.