The connotation of World-Class university from the perspective of Chinese university leaders ——A qualitative research report based on Nvivo

• In Event: Knowledge production

Proposal

Abstract：Based on a qualitative study of over 30 university leaders from China, this study analyzed the influencing factors and the natural state behind the construction of future World-Class universities in China with the help of NVivo 8 analysis software. The research shows that the government's attitude and evaluation system will affect the construction of the future World-Class universities in China. On the level of school construction, talent cultivation is the core of the future world-class universities construction. In addition, the concept of managing a school, the attitude of the university, international integration, characteristic culture, teacher construction and social contribution are what the universities need to pay attention to.
Our interview materials strongly demonstrate the connotation of World-Class university and determine that " World-Class university is the university which can cultivate world-class talents, produce world-class achievements, promote social development, guide cultural direction, and participate in global governance."

Key words: university leaders' perspective; World-Class university; connotation; qualitative research.

On September 21, 2017, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission of China announced a list of World-Class universities and disciplines (abbreviated as "Double World-Class") which China want to build in the future. There was an uproar from all walks of life, both in favor and in doubt, but there were more doubts and puzzles. If the connotation, characteristics and influencing factors of World-Class university are not systematically researched and scientifically understood, it will be difficult to grasp the direction of the construction. The reform of higher education in China, the orientation and development of universities, and the construction of future World-Class universities in China will be blind and inefficient. Whether a World-Class university can be built or not is closely related to the allocation of resources by the government and reputation of the university in the social. Therefore, how to build a World-Class university is also a matter of great concern to the leaders of universities. Universities leaders are very familiar with each aspects of the school, and have a systematic understanding of the universities development and layout positioning. It is necessary to conduct in-depth study on the views of this special group.
The interviewees are university leaders who have rich experience in school management, front-line teaching and have worked in different types of universities. As school administrators, they are very familiar with what problems a university will face in its development and layout as well as what problems should be paid attention to, so their overall consideration of the university will be more comprehensive with a macro perspective; as front-line teaching teachers, they can consider from the perspective of students, faculties and staffs what a World-Class university needs. In this case, university leaders can combine the macro concept of the school with the practical measures.
The university leaders interviewed are mainly divided into two categories, one is from top two of Chinese top universities, the other are the rest Chinese “985 Project” key construction universities.
In the initial stage of the construction of "Double World-Class", although the university leaders are the direct leaders and planners in the practice, their understanding of the World-Class universities are not the same which can easily lead to the process of implementing the construction plan. Problems and conflicts of interest arise.
In the interviews, university leaders often mention the state of World-Class university, put forward many construction suggestions and many opinions on the former evaluation. The answers from each aspect deeply reflect their understanding of the connotation of World-Class university from their perspectives.
After open coding, axial coding and selective coding (Gail Jennings, 2007), this study finds that there are two aspects play an important role in the construction of World-Class universities: the university level and the government level, while draws three conclusions: 1. The university level plays a vital role. According to the interview materials, the university level factors extracted from this study are, in turn, personnel training, characteristic culture, social contribution, school attitude, international communication, the idea of management, teacher building, world-class achievements; 2. different types of universities have different concern on these two levels and there is no consensus. Talent cultivation, social contribution and characteristic culture are all considered as the important components of the World-Class universities by the leaders in two types of universities. Comparing among these two types of universities, the top two universities in China pay more attention to "international communication" and "discipline construction", and the rest 985 universities pay more attention to "school attitude"; 3. university leaders hope that the government alter the degree of freedom and evaluation system. Through a deep analysis of the university level, this paper holds that the cultivation of talents is the core element of a World-Class university, the characteristic culture is an important factor of a World-Class university, the international communication is a must way for a World-Class university, the social contribution and the frontier achievements are the key indicators of a World-Class university, and the idea of management, the attitude of the school and the construction of teachers are the basis of building World-Class universities. These conclusions strongly point to the connotation of the World-Class university in this study: "The World-Class university is the university which can cultivate World-Class talents, produce World-Class results, promote social development, guide cultural direction and participate in global governance."

Authors

• Wenting Lan, Tsinghua University/visiting in University of Michigan

• Ruilin Li, Institute of Education Tsinghua University

• peilin qiu, University of Michigan