LIU ON DKU’S APPROACH TO EDUCATING GLOBAL CITIZENS

Following is a translation of the article “Cultivating Well-Rounded Global Citizens with National Cultural Roots Through a Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Education Model” written by DKU Chancellor Liu Jingnan and DKU Senior Advisor to Chancellors Li Hui and published in the journal China Higher Education in January 2015.

1. Sino-Foreign Universities: A new initiative in building a higher education platform for cultivating world-class talent

Since the 1990s, under the impact of economic globalization and regional economic integration, the concept of ‘higher education going global’ has evolved from an idea into a worldwide practice, mirroring economic globalization within the education sector. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) declared in 1997 that: ‘University globalization goes far beyond transnational cooperation between individuals or universities. It is a necessary and vital evolution of teaching and learning, imperative to the future of a nation.’

Currently, China is in a critical period of transforming from a country with a large higher education sector to one with a strong higher education sector, shifting from a focus on scale expansion to one of quality elevation. The past 11 years since the promulgation of the Regulations on Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools by the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China in 2003 have witnessed the burgeoning and diversifying of Sino-Foreign education. During this period, the eight Sino-Foreign Universities which have been established as independent legal entities have caught the attention of China and the world. A new trend is emerging in which the outstanding education programs and talent cultivation model of leading international universities are adapted to local Chinese conditions, and through processes of learning and stretching, synthesis and integration, and struggle and innovation, a new model of truly internationalized universities is emerging.These independent Sino-Foreign Universities have absorbed internationalized education philosophies, management models, pedagogical methods and curriculum systems, and accomplished the internationalization of academic staff, student recruitment, language environment,

curriculum systems, cultural environments, and management models. With approximately half of their academic staff and students coming from every corner of the world, these institutions, set amidst a Chinese cultural tradition and system in an environment that is also very open, form a unique talent incubation environment and mechanism with multi-cultural integration. Such institutions create a new high-level internationalized higher education platform for cultivating talents in China.Under such circumstances, different beliefs and views, thoughts and acts, and cultures and systems will be constantly clashing and blending with each other so as to spark new ideas, stimulate innovation, and accelerate integration. Undoubtedly, this talent fostering model will at times generate new impact on China and the rest of the world, but it will also stimulate new ideas for the reform and development of China’s higher education, which is one of the most important missions of the joint-venture universities.

2. Objective: Cultivate well-rounded global citizens rooted in their national culture

Duke Kunshan University is one of the above-mentioned new model institutions, firmly rooted in the soil of China and jointly founded by top universities from the U.S. and China – Duke University and Wuhan University. Within China’s higher education system, DKU introduces the advanced education philosophy, management model, pedagogical approaches, and curricular systems of Duke University; these elements are then learned, digested, and absorbed with reference to China’s cultural and economic development needs, with the goal of producing an elite, research-oriented, comprehensive, and international world-class university. Such was the plan, and such has been the practice. Combining Duke University’s educational philosophy, ‘Knowledge in the Service of Society,’ and Wuhan University’s motto, ‘Seek Truth and Make Innovations,’ we are thinking of the mission of DKU as ‘Serve Truth and Justice, Serve Societies and Nations.’ DKU’s objective is to cultivate well-rounded global citizens rooted in their own national cultures.

History reminds us that Western universities underwent a transition in their understanding of education, from one in which the purpose of nurturing talent was to serve religion to one in which the purpose was to serve society. With regard to this understanding of talent cultivation, modern China also experienced a series of changes. For example, during the initial stage of reform and opening, the aim was to cultivate a well-rounded successor generation of socialist reformers and builders. Later, however, the objective was specified as training billions of highly qualified workers, millions of professionals, and a talented and innovative group of leaders. Now, as put forward by the National Medium and Long-term Educational Reform and Development Project Summary, the goal is to ‘strengthen citizenship education, build the socialist democratic rule of law, freedom, equality, and justice, and nurture good socialist citizens.’ These three sentences provide a relatively thorough description of China’s talent cultivation philosophy. China’s peaceful rise brings with it increasing international responsibilities, so the mission of students is no longer limited to building the motherland but now goes beyond the boundaries of the nation in order to contribute to the peace and development of the world and humankind. Hence, it is natural that the new call is to cultivate talented individuals who know and respect foreign cultures, abide by international laws, and possess international vision and competence.

Then, who are these global citizens with their own cultural roots? The key lies in ancestry, a sense of one’s own national cultural identity, and internationality. With regard to ancestry, people cultivated through higher education will love and appreciate their parents, relatives, friends, and classmates, and be endowed with the traditional virtue of ‘respecting the elderly and the young as you would respect the elderly and young in your own family.’ From the perspective of national cultural identity, global citizens must be passionate for their homeland and country and proud of their own cultural heritage. From the perspective of internationality, rooted global citizens not only carry on their own ancestral bloodlines and national spirit, but are even more appreciators and transmitters of every culture in the world. They are philanthropic, just and responsible; they possess innovative spirit, creativity, and entrepreneurship; they are competitive but also keen to cooperate; they strive for mutual benefit, harmonious co-existence, and shared development. Global citizens, rooted in their native culture and national ethos, also serve world peace, justice and modernization by studying and absorbing the best of other cultures.

Cultivating global citizens with their own cultural roots requires higher education to cultivate elites who acknowledge the essence of their culture and ethnic spirit, and are endowed with international vision and awareness as well as cross-cultural communication abilities. It also requires cultivating individuals who can actively undertake the mission of establishing a world of harmony. Future leaders in an era of higher education going global will have a strong global awareness of cherishing the earth, protecting the environment, and maintaining harmony between humankind and the nature, of working toward mutual understanding and communication, and of respecting people of different cultures, ethnicities, and skin colors.

Global citizens are rooted firmly in their native culture while also absorbing the essence of other cultures around the world and devoting themselves to the innovative development and creation of cultures, which parallels the idea of ‘awakening a new people’ put forward in The Great Learning, the pedagogic classic of China. A similar idea that is found in the writings of the great Chinese anthropologist and sociologist Fei Xiaotong, ‘Every form of beauty has its uniqueness, precious is to appreciate other forms of beauty with openness. If beauty represents itself with diversity and integrity, the world will be blessed with harmony and unity’ nicely encapsulates the cultural and spiritual elements of internationalized higher education rooted in native cultures.

In light of these ideas, DKU set its own objective of talent cultivation as cultivating well-educated leading elites with a strong sense of responsibility and mission to address the regional, national, Asian and international needs; cultivating creative and pragmatic elites who possess both humanistic and scientific spirits and who demonstrate an excellent fusion of arts and science, and dignity and intelligence; and cultivating global citizens who have international vision and competence, knowledge of international rules, and multi-cultural background.

We believe that this objective not only transmits the Confucian cultural genes of ‘self-cultivation, family-management, state-governance and peaceful rule,’ but also reflects socialist core values. In addition, this objective conforms to the universal value of ‘serving equality and justice, serving society and nations,’ which is the talent cultivation goal of most universities in international society.

Peace and development remain the themes of today’s world, as concluded by Deng Xiaoping based on a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the current international situation. We believe that Chinese universities, set in this globalization background, should not only consolidate, guard, and strengthen Chinese culture, but also learn, advocate, and apply the wisdom of every culture. Only by doing so can we creatively contribute to higher education worldwide.

3. Model: A fresh exploration of integrating interdisciplinary teaching and research with liberal arts education

Once assured of what type of talents to cultivate, Sino-Foreign universities then confront the eternal question of how to cultivate such talents. Varied positioning strategies lead to varied talent fostering models, thus forming distinctive approaches to education. With a view to incubating global citizens with their own cultural roots, the three partners of DKU, through frank and deep confrontations between the Chinese and American cultures and views of education, have reached a consensus on DKU’s positioning after a prudent analysis of respective characteristics and strengths and of global trends in higher education. DKU will position itself as a small-scale, elite, comprehensive, research-led, and international top-notch talent cultivation model. From a pedagogic perspective, the distinctive feature of this model is that it is liberal arts education with integrated and interdisciplinary teaching and research which is needs-based, question-based, and based on foreseeable trends.

Last October, the Association of American Universities, the League of European Research Universities, the Group of Eight in Australia, and the C9 in China signed the Hefei Statement on the Ten Characteristics of Contemporary Research Universities.

The Statement clearly pointed out that universities aiming at elite education should be distinguished by the following characteristics: attitude toward and dedication to research; quality, scope, and quantity of research results; and the influence of research culture on all university activities, and also on enterprises, government, and society. The undergraduate education of research universities benefits to a large extent from the extensive opportunities research offers, including in-class learning and exploration as well as communication with research fellows and graduate students who work on the frontiers of science. Graduate students’ direct and extensive engagement in research projects enriches the graduate education of such a university. In return, the creativity and vitality of graduates contributes remarkably to undergraduate education, research quality and productivity. These defining features indicate that elite universities must cohesively integrate teaching with research, and undergraduate education should be integrated with graduate education and faculty research activities.

Research universities are not only places for discovery and exploration of new knowledge, but also for fostering skills in innovative problem-solving. They are places where free exploration happens, where students are assisted in exploring the unknown, discovering problems, putting forward questions, and the honing of keen minds. The purpose is not to have students immediately produce results, but rather to prepare them for future service to society so that when the unpredictable does happen they know how to draw on their acquired knowledge and skills to solve the problem. Therefore, the traits to be cultivated in universities include: an attitude of active engagement with daily human life, broad and deep curiosity, ability to integrate fragmented knowledge into cohesive understandings and skills, ways of thinking that blend the humanistic spirit with the scientific spirit, the ability to view and address problems from a broad historical and social perspective, the ability to think independently but also play on a team, a strong sense of responsibility, and voluntary intellectual dedication to the service of society. Then how do we cultivate such traits in students? Human progress and knowledge suggest that we should pursue a path of liberal arts education for undergraduate students and interdisciplinary instruction and research for graduate students, and eventually integrate the undergraduate education with innovative research oriented graduate education in a vertically integrated learning environment.

Liberal arts education dates back to the pre-Qin period in China when Confucius put forth the notion that “the talents of a noble man are never confined to a single skill” and practiced the ‘Six Arts’ education model (i.e. etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, literature and mathematics). In the west, liberal arts education can be traced back to ancient Greece where Aristotle first proposed the idea of liberal education, by which he meant freeing the soul and elevating morality and intelligence through reasoning so as to realize the sound development of the body and the soul. In the early 19th century, the President of Yale University organized and published The Yale Report of 1828, which clearly specifies that liberal arts education is not intended for professional pursuits but rather for a balanced shaping of the students’ character and ability of mind. In 1945, Harvard released a notable report, General Education in a Free Society, which defines the objectives of general education as cultivating an well-rounded person with four kinds of abilities, i.e. the ability to think effectively, communicate clearly, judge appropriately, and make sound value judgments. The essence of general liberal arts education is inherited from long humanistic and scientific traditions that aim to cultivate a healthy sense of self and civic responsibility, foresight and vision, knowledge of both the old and new, and a liberal arts spirit. Modern liberal arts education focuses on teaching students how to think rather than what to think and guiding them in how to create knowledge instead of accumulate knowledge.

Confronted with the major challenges of the 21st century, such as economic globalization, technological revolution and social reform, university educators are seeking new approaches and ideas for cultivating talents across the world. Against this background, DKU determined, at the outset, to adopt an integrated model for conducting liberal arts education of interdisciplinary teaching and research, and to implement it in a truly international environment. This semester, DKU has introduced an American-style liberal arts curriculum system covering disciplines such as humanities, natural science, social science, linguistics and advanced writing, and graduate-oriented global health. Exchange students from the U.S., India, Africa and China who are enrolled in the undergraduate program can select one or two courses from each module based on their personal interests or following recommendations from teachers in order to form their own personalized liberal arts semester program. A wide selection of courses is offered, including such courses as Ancient Greek Culture and Civilization, Water Resources and Water Environment, Cognitive Science, Environment and Health, Contemporary British and American Literature, and Modern Physics. Most of the faculty members come from Duke University in the U.S., and they guide students on a challenging journey that encompasses brainstorming, exercises of the mind, inspiration, experiences of success, a feast of interdisciplinary knowledge and spiritual joy. This is accomplished though a carefully chosen set of measures including small class sizes, literature referencing, in-class discussions, seminars and lectures, practical experience in society, assignments and exams. The great majority of students, especially the Chinese students, have found that this education experience enhances their tastes, perspectives, refinement, knowledge and skills. Some graduates voluntarily choose to take courses that are well beyond the boundaries of their majors. Also, shared campus life and study and research interactions among undergraduates and graduates of different nationalities provide a clash and fusion of diverse cultures, minds and life experiences. Moreover, the setting in which this liberal arts education takes place, the splendid culture and booming economy of Kunshan City and Jiangsu Province, forms an environment in which the vigor and magnetism of internationalization are particularly highlighted.

Based on this undergraduate liberal arts education model, Duke and DKU is conducting a systematic study of optimal models for the undergraduate program that is proposed to start in 2018. The Trinity College of Arts & Sciences of Duke University has established a special Liberal Arts in China Committee dedicated to designing world-class innovative undergraduate liberal arts degree programs for DKU. The Committee is directly responsible for the pioneering undergraduate Global Learning Semester program that has already been initiated by DKU and will collaborate closely with the Advisory Board, consisting of professors specialized in undergraduate education from prestigious universities in the U.S. and China, to hold regular meetings on how DKU is to carry out undergraduate education that addresses China’s needs. By 2018, the end of Phase I, DKU will draw conclusions based on the experience of liberal arts education both in China and abroad and set up a plan for implementing undergraduate liberal arts education in a way that embraces both Chinese and Western experience and ideas. This plan will have cross-cultural, cross-national, and multi-lingual language features, integrating study of the natural sciences with that of the humanities, of the social sciences with that of engineering and management sciences, of classical civilizations with modern societies, and of both applied and cutting edge theoretical issues. This plan aims to create a world-class undergraduate liberal arts education program with Chinese and Western characteristics during Phase II, either independently or working jointly with other institutions.

Starting with graduate degree programs, DKU’s plan is to build an institution of higher education gradually in three phases that offers comprehensive undergraduate and graduate programs, and attains a level of educational excellence comparable to that of Duke University. To this end, DKU has broken the Chinese convention of organizing faculties based on disciplines, subjects, and careers. Instead, it has directly moved to establishing collaborative research centers that address social issues, development issues, and issues relating to human cognition. These multi-disciplinary centers constitute a vertically integrated talent development system that combines undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and postdoctoral education and also faculty research, thus forming an innovative and organically unified model of talent cultivation, scientific research, social service and cultural innovation.

In an academic community, research is the shared pursuit of value and existence that ties together students, faculty and university leadership. The conventional discipline-, subject-, and career-oriented talent cultivation pattern is academic in essence, and to a certain degree reflects the internal aspirations of an institution. Yet the mission of talent cultivation, scientific research, and cultural transmission and development is to serve society, so institutions must also respond to the external demands of social issues, economic development needs, and the future peace and development, all of which are common desires of humankind. Furthermore, disciplines, academic subjects and career orientations are relatively stationary, so they rigidify the academic life and generate barriers that interfere with the interaction between disciplines and different kinds of expertise, and they work against integration of disciplines and to a certain degree affect the faculty exchanges and the innovation of discipline convergence and integration. In contrast, society continues to move forward in ways are often not neatly confined within the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines and only by the innovation of discipline convergence and integration could we provide the possible solutions to the issues concerning the demand, development and future of the society. In light of these realities, DKU has broken with conventional academic patterns and built collaborative interdisciplinary research centers, a brand new talent-cultivating model i.e. a cross-discipline, cross-subject, and cross-domain model. As demands and problems change with the passing of time, so also do things like research direction, scale, structure and personnel at the research center; what remains constant are things like the need for a cross-disciplinary, cross-subject, cross-domain and problem-focused orientation, a collaborative and creative culture, and a consensus-based and win-win situation-based spirit.

4. The journey of innovation ‘ new strategies for developing academic disciplines and research

In order to attain the visionary goal of building a world-class research-led liberal arts university in a relatively short period, the three partners of DKU have conceived a “High Starting Point, Small Step and Phased Development” strategy of university construction and discipline and research development, with lessons and conclusions drawn from the experience of co-founded trans-national, trans-cultural, and trans-system educational institutions both in China and abroad.

‘High starting point’ refers to a high standard for campus planning and construction, with the goals of creating a campus that will maintain harmony between people and the nature for 200 years and constructing campus buildings that will last 100 years without major renovation. It also denotes a starting point of selectively introducing excellent degree programs with reference to China’s medium and long-term social economic development needs, and of debuting with graduate degree programs and a research team of associated post-doctoral fellows, thus highlighting the research character of the university, rather than following the conventional path of offering undergraduate education first.

DKU officially launched three graduate degree programs in the autumn of 2014, namely the Master of Management Studies, Master of Science in Global Health and Master of Science in Medical Physics, with all degrees granted by Duke University in the U.S. All these graduate programs include research work at DKU with learning and research modules from Duke University, and they organically unite the scientific research undertaken by undergraduates, graduates, post-doctoral fellows and professors via a vertically integrated model. Professors from different disciplines not only lecture both graduates and undergraduates, but also are encouraged to engage themselves in the research which address the real world social problems so that they can apply inter-disciplinary solutions to real scientific problems. A high level of participation by students in such projects allows them to grow more than they would through doing coursework alone, and gives them first-hand experience and understanding of the real world. Such a model encourages students to acquire extensive knowledge and cross-disciplinary and cross-subject modes of thinking, and to utilize their training to address real problems. In combination with these graduate degree programs, DKU has set up a Global Health Research Center, cross-discipline, cross-subject, and cross-domain, globally recruiting seven full-time professors and a number of research assistants to complement the existing Duke faculty team, using the same recruiting standards used at Duke. Entering into cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Chinese Ministry of Health and relevant Kunshan municipal authorities, the Center, whose operation demonstrates the synergy of teaching and researching advocated by DKU, will shape a paradigm for integrating future undergraduate, graduate and research programs. Additionally, DKU is launching an Environment & Energy Policy Research and Management Center in collaboration with national environmental protection authorities and the Environmental Protection Department of Jiangsu Province, and also introducing a Master of Environmental Management program from Duke University.

‘Small steps’ refers to a low priority given to quantity and speed when constructing and introducing degree programs. When selecting a new program, full consideration is being given to the geographical location of DKU, the talent needs of specific disciplines, and the question of what fields are significant to the development and global presence of China. Therefore, for each new program a SWOT analysis is conducted, followed by vetting and verification from over ten councils at both Duke University and DKU. Only then does DKU embark upon detailed planning and budgeting. After approval by the Board of Trustees, the programs will be implemented on a program-by-program basis. ‘Small steps’ also suggests that DKU adopts a “quality foremost” strategy with no sacrifice of quality for the sake of quantity when it comes to the adoption of individual programs.

‘Phased development’ refers to a sound and orderly development of DKU’s academic programs and campus construction which is classified into three phases. Phase I (2013 – 2018) concentrates on introducing several graduate programs, between five and seven, and setting up either two or three research centers. It also includes recruiting faculty and post-doctoral fellows worldwide, and planning for the future undergraduate degree program. In Phase II (2019 – 2022), DKU plans to begin offering bachelor’s degree programs covering humanities, social and natural sciences, and the arts (issuing DKU diplomas and also Duke University diplomas as approved by Duke). Additionally, several doctoral degree programs may be added at this stage. In Phase III (2023 – 2026), DKU will initially realize the goal of achieving a world-class comprehensive research-led university featuring liberal arts education. More liberal arts undergraduate programs are to be offered during this stage, including undergraduate engineering degrees in areas such as Biomedical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical and Material Engineering. I