The Development Strategies of Foreign Language and Literature Discipline in China under the Background of“Building World-Class Universities and Disciplines”

“TheActionPlanforBuildingWorld-ClassUniversitiesandDisciplines”isasignificantplaninthedevelopmentofChinahighereducation,anditoffersopportunitiesandchallengesforthedisciplineofforeignlanguageandliterature.Bymeansofliteraturereview,thispaperdiscussestheconnotationofworld-classuniversityanddiscipline,andtheconnotationanddevelopmentstrategiesofworld-classforeignlanguageandliteraturediscipline,soastogivesomeenlightenmenttothebuildingofworld-classuniversitiesanddisciplines,andthedevelopmentofforeignlanguageandliteraturediscipline.Onthebasisofreviewingrelevantresearchbothathomeandabroad,thisstudyfirstpointsoutthatworldclassuniversityinvolvesworld-classstudents,teachersandresearchers,academicresearch,universitymanagementandsocialservices,amongwhichstudents,faculty,andresearcharethecorecomponents.Second,thisstudyclaimsthatworld-classdisciplineismainlyembodiedinthequalityoftalents,research,facultyandservices。

Enlightenment from Development Experience of World-Class Universities in Foreign Inland Regions

Only a few world-class universities are in inland regions.The development of inland universities is restricted by many factors,which is especially true in the construction of universities of the Double First Class initiative in China’s western inland regions.①To learn more about how this situation evolved,we conducted research focused on world-class inland universities in foreign countries to sort out their experiences during their development.Through literature reviews and online surveys,we found that the development of such universities is restricted by the economic and social environment of the cities and regions in which they are located.Further,these universities are good at seizing historic development opportunities to actively advance internal reform and fully integrate into regional economic and social development.As a result,they have made great contributions to talent training and scientific research.They have also enhanced their strength and international influence in the process of coordinated development with their region.Therefore,we suggest universities in western China draw on such experience to grow into double first-class universities.Specifically,they should closely follow major national and regional strategies and comprehensively integrate into regional economic and social construction to seek opportunities by taking full advantage of local development.They should also continuously deepen institutional and systematic restructuring to unleash their vitality and potential in education management and development and focus on major projects to expand influence in their regions.

The World-Class Multiversity:Global Commonalities and National Characteristics

World-Class Universities(WCUs)are nationally embedded comprehensive higher education institutions(HEIs)that are closely engaged in the global knowledge system.The article reviews the conditions of possibility and evolution of WCUs.Three interpretations are used to explain worldwide higher education:neoliberal theory,institutional theory,and critical political economy,which give greater recognition than the other theories to the role of the state and variations between states.World higher education is evolving under conditions of globalization,organizational modernization(the New Public Management),and in some countries,marketization.These larger conditions have become manifest in higher education in three widespread tendencies:massification,the WCU movement,and organizational expansion.The last includes the strengthening of the role of the large multi-disciplinary multi-purpose HEIs(“multiversities”),in the form of both research-intensive WCUs with significant global presence,and other HEIs.The role of binary sector and specialist HEIs has declined.Elite WCUs gain status and strategic advantage in both quantity and quality:through growth and the expansion of scope,and through selectivity and research concentration.The balance between quantity and quality is now resolved at larger average size and broader scope than before.The final section of the article reviews WCUs in China and considers whether they might constitute a distinctive university model.

Seeking Excellence in the Move to a Mass System:Institutional Responses of Key Chinese Comprehensive Universities

Since the late 1990s the Chinese government has implemented two key policies for the development of higher education.The first was launching Project 985,with the purpose of seeking excellence through creating internationally competitive universities.The second was a radical move to a mass system of higher education.In this context,China’s top universities have faced dual missions,each with their challenges:playing key roles in the revolutionary expansion process on the one hand and closing the gap between them and top universities around the world through the implementation of Project 985,on the other.It is thus important to know about how these institutions have transformed themselves for excellence through the implementation of these policies.With the three cases of Peking,Nanjing and Xiamen Universities,this paper aims to examine each institutional response and the broad changes that have come about in these top Chinese comprehensive universities.It looks especially at the divergent trajectories these institutions have followed in balancing their elite and mass education functions,their global,national and local missions,the pursuit of excellence alongside of a commitment to equity,efforts at curricular comprehensivization while preserving unique historical strengths,and finally globalization and localization.From two higher education frameworks,one based on epistemological considerations and the other on political philosophy,that are equally important in light of China’s traditions,the paper concludes that Chinese universities will continuously but selectively respond to the national expansion policy with various institutional models of seeking excellence that enable them to contribute to Chinese society and the global community in the future.