The Definition of Sustainable Development of Private University —— Based on the Method of Literature Review and Cluster Analysis〔*〕

Shi Meng,Wang Dongling

(1.Institute of Education　Xiamen University,Xiamen　Fujian　361005;2.Institute of Private Higher Education　Shandong Yingcai University,Jinan　Shandong　250104)



The Definition of Sustainable Development of Private University
—— Based on the Method of Literature Review and Cluster Analysis〔*〕

Shi Meng1,Wang Dongling2

(1.Institute of EducationXiamen University,XiamenFujian361005;2.Institute of Private Higher EducationShandong Yingcai University,JinanShandong250104)

Ⅰ.Prologue

The private higher education in China restarts and has developed into an important part of higher education after the reform and opening up.The sustainable development of private university has arisen general concern of the academia and the private higher education after an approximately golden period.The sustainable development essentially is an abstract representation and existing researches mainly explain the form or elements of sustainable development of private university,which fail to reveal the nature and construct the recognition standard for the sustainable development of private university.Thus,to study the concept of sustainable development of private university is of great theoretical and practical significance.

Generally,connotation and denotation are the essential logic categories of a concept.Connotation refers to the sum of nature of the object reflected by a concept,indicating “what” is the object,and denotation refers to the scope of all objects consistent with a concept,indicating “which” are objects.〔1〕This paper defines the concept of sustainable development of private university from the perspective of the connotation definition and epitaxial recognition through the method of literature review and cluster analysis.

Ⅱ.The connotation of sustainable development of private university:the study based on the method of literature review

1.Literature review

As a concept,sustainable development was first raised by World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in its report Our Common Future in 1987.Sustainable development is “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”.〔2〕Many scholars state the concept of sustainable development from different perspectives at present:“sustainable development is a normative concept and reflects the behavioral mode and assessment criteria that should be observed when human society seek contentment,taking the fairness problem of the present and between generations into account.”〔3〕Thus,the sustainable development has gradually evolved into the harmony of economic development,population,resources and environment from harmonious development of eco-environment,endeavoring to achieve the transformation from pursuing development quantity and contemporary interests to valuing development quality and interests of future generations.〔4〕For education,the sustainable development emphasizes the organic combination of human,education and environment,the increasing input of educational resources,the increasingly improvement of educational organization,the relationship between modern and future educational development,enrichment of educational activities and improvement of education quality,etc.〔5〕The International Conference on Higher Education points out,“higher education and research is playing an important role in the sustainable development of individuals,community and nation at the aspects of culture,society,economy and environment,and its mission and role should be maintained,strengthened and further expanded,especially the mission to promote the social sustainable development and advancement.”〔6〕Based on the sustainable exploitation and utilization of educational resources,on the premise of coordinated development of society and economy,with the core of establishing ecological environment for green education and college students’ intelligence,following the objective laws of higher education development,the sustainable development of higher education aims to achieve the coordinated development of scale,structure,quality and benefit as well as talents cultivation of sustainable development and ultimately the coordinated development of human,nature and society.〔7〕

The sustainable development of university is the core of the sustainable development of higher education.The definition of public university involves:to satisfy the basic needs of most people for higher education and to restrict needs,that is to say,maximize the utilization of resources and avoid wasting.〔8〕So the sustainable development of higher education is a developmental concept of perfecting and transforming structure,expanding scale,improving relation with environment and increasing operational efficiency with the goal of achieving and improving needs for existence together with establishing and perfecting inner mechanism.〔9〕

Current studies on sustainable development of private university mainly focus on the statement of its features and requirements:some scholars make a definition for sustainable development of private university from the perspective of realization approach and suggest that it necessary to keep reasonable positioning,strengthen the characteristics of running a school and uphold market-orientation and autonomy in running a school.〔10〕

The literature review shows that current studies tend to study educational form without an agreement on the complex index connotation of sustainable development of private university which involves a great deal of factors,and fail in revealing nature and constructing recognition standard.The latter researchers thus cannot explore the principle from the previous studies,which makes it difficult to promote the sustainable development of private university in practice.

2.Connotation definition

The method of “specific concept plus differential” are often used by scholars to illustrate “the unique attribute presented in appearance that only one or one kind of things have but others not”.〔11〕

Generally,the private higher education in China is still at an early stage featuring social investment,resulting in less government financial investment and rules and regulations than public university.From the point of view of logic,that is the differential.And the sustainable development of private university is a specific concept that is committed to the goal of modern education of equality,fairness and justice under the guidance of the concept of sustainable development.Specifically speaking,the connotation of sustainable development of private university involves:

First is to develop ecological consciousness.In the ecological environment of higher education,college is a resource-relied organization and its reform is motivated by the access of external resources and persistent existence of organization fundamentally.〔12〕To persist in ecological consciousness will promote the benign interaction between university and other subsystems and guarantee the exploitation and utilization of educational resources.

Second is to follow the objective laws.Chinese educationalist Pan Maoyuan suggests that higher education should be consistent with the economic and social development as well as physical and mental development of the educated.

Third is to uphold non-profit orientation and respect profit seeking.Profit seeking is an important guarantee for sustainable development of private university.To take the realization of public profits as goal is the social need and value appeal of modern university.

Ⅲ.The epitaxial recognition of sustainable development of private university:the study based on the method of cluster analysis

The connotation of sustainable development of private university based on above studies is abstract,so the author needs to clarify its denotation to judge in which kind of educational form it embodies.

1.The literature review of standard for epitaxial recognition

The cluster analysis of literature requires scholars to refer to as many relative literature and important files as possible,find out relatively consistent views through comparison and clustering and take them as the basic for establishment of final recognition standard system.〔13〕This paper just reviews representative academic literature for the construction of recognition standard system.

Wang Qingru puts forwards two recognition standards for the sustainable development of private university:First is the epitaxial dominant index such as enrolment number,size of school and construction of campus;Second is the connotative implicit index such as the principle of school,talent cultivation and teaching staff.They both reflect the internal logic and objective laws determining the real level of running a school.〔14〕Zhang Shaoming thinks that the recognition standard has four latitudes,involving the latitude of client,internal operational latitude,learning and innovation and finance.〔15〕

2.The cluster analysis of standard for epitaxial recognition

Literature that clearly embody the assessment index for sustainable development of private university are identified from CNKI database during 2005-2013 with the key words as sustainable development of private university,development of private university and private university,and then the denotation of the concept of sustainable development of private university is recognized through cluster analysis.

The result shows the goal level of recognition standard is divided into two groups,talent cultivation and operation management.The talent cultivation involves education and teaching (teaching management,teaching approach and discipline) and conditions for running a school (teaching staff and facility).The operation management involves school running (communication and cooperation,financial support and school reputation) and school governance (internal and external governance).

3.Test on the results of cluster analysis of standard for epitaxial recognition

The study tests the reliability and validity of conceptual dimension of sustainable development of private university through questionnaire survey.235 questionnaires are sent out,receiving 211 valid questionnaires with the retrieving rate of 89.78%.

First,reliability test.Cronbach α coefficient,reliability of individual item and composite reliability of latent variables are used to test the reliability of the questionnaire.The result shows all index factors and Cronbach α coefficients exceed 0.5,which satisfies the reliability requirements.

Second,validity test.Validity test is carried out based on reliability test.After reducing factors and principal component analysis,the convergent and discriminant validity are proved to meet the requirement and the epitaxial index of the concept of sustainable development of higher education are amended.

The above analysis reveals that private university needs to value the system construction of operation management and innovation of talent cultivation,and improve development project and index system on this basis.Thus,scientific system of internal and external governance and assessment should be established,education quality and conditions for running a school should be upgraded,international communication and school-enterprise cooperation should be developed,and funding channel should be broadened in order to enhance social reputation and realize sustainable development.

Ⅳ.Conclusion and enlightenment

To study the sustainable development of private university is of profound theoretical significance and practical value and the definition of its concept is the origin of all relevant studies.

Based on the literature review and analysis of existing theoretical research achievements,this paper makes a definition for sustainable development of private university and points out that sustainable development of private university is an ecological development which is consistent with laws and keeps a balance between upholding non-profit orientation and respecting profit-seeking.The definition conforms to the requirements for complex organization to develop and for schools to cultivate talents,and value requirements of modern university.This paper constructs an index system with 26 recognition standards through cluster analysis of the denotation of sustainable development of private university.Viewing from the structure of the system,the studies themed by private higher education seldom involve scientific research and social service,because most private universities are still at the growing stage where to improve the condition for running a school,efficiency in school management and quality of education and teaching is the priority.To study the connotation and denotation of sustainable development of private university will help control its development situation from the perspective of implicit nature and explicit development status,provide targeted theoretical basis and practical standard for its development and promote the sustainable,healthy and steady development.

(Translated by Dai Jiabao)

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The sustainable development of private university has become the focus of the academia and the private higher education after an approximately golden period.Through the method of literature review and cluster analysis,this paper studies the concept of sustainable development of private university from the perspective of the connotation definition and epitaxial recognition,in order to effectively reveal the essence of the sustainable development of private university,hoping to provide some certain support for the theory and practice of sustainable development of private university.

literature review;cluster analysis;sustainable development;private university

About the author：Shi Meng(1978—),doctoral student of Institute of Education,Xiamen University,engaged in the educational management;Wang Donglin(1981—),deputy professor of Shandong Yingcai University,engaged in the educational management.

〔*〕This paper is the phased achievement of the key project of 12th Five-Year Plan of the National Education Sciences “The Study of Distribution and Influential Factors of Private University in China” (NO.DFA140218) and the key project of soft science research of Sichuan “Sustainable Development and the Construction of Dynamic Mechanism and Assessment System of Private University”(NO.2013RZB01009).