大学育人的市场逻辑及其超越

人力资本理论自20世纪60年代开始风靡,深刻改变世界各国的公共决策,也直接促进了高等教育规模的迅速提升,但是,其背后的市场逻辑却导致大学育人出现体系失衡、主体性遮蔽、想象力被抑和公平受损等问题。大学与市场的关系是合作而不是迎合,高等教育要为市场提供人力,也要为国家培育公民、为学术培养人才、为个人提升内涵,不可偏废其一。当今世界处于“百年未有之大变局”,中国正面临复杂的国际形势,竞争加剧、创新不足、人口老化等问题接踵而至,大学必须致力于社会的长期稳定发展。在新时代背景下,中国大学育人要在主体意识、内涵发展和评价标准等方面做好价值坚守,要从理念、结构、方式和内容等要素出发进行系统创新的探索。

Beyond a Human Capital Approach to University Education

Human capital theory (HCT) assumes that education leads to greater productivity,which is ultimately translated into economic returns,such as higher wages and increased GDP. Since the 1960s,HCT has dominated public understanding of relations between education and work,and greatly promoted the massification of higher education in many parts of the world. However,this widelyaccepted perception is inaccurate. Instead,the overemphasis on economic returns of higher education downplays the pivotal role played by the university in our society,and even worse,tends to stifle students’ imagination and hampers their all-round development. As a matter of fact,the university and the market place are to interact not merely as the supply side and the demand one,but to coordinate with and complement each other. The university not only supplies quality workforce for the labor market,but also cultivates good citizens for the society,and train talents for scientific advancement as well. We are living in a fast-changing world and China today is confronted with grim challenges,including population aging,lack of creativity and fierce international competition,etc. To cope with these problems,universities in China need to go beyond the human capital approach,and develop an innovative education model that prepares students for both work and life,aiming to achieve happiness and the common good as well.