The important role of the teaching steering committee in colleges and universities

The predecessor of the Teaching Steering Committee of Colleges and Universities was the textbook editing and review committee. The establishment of the Textbook Editing and Review Committee has greatly promoted the construction of teaching materials in our country's colleges and universities, allowing our country's colleges and universities to develop teaching materials from scratch, from introduction to self-editing, from a single variety to a multi-variety package, forming high-quality teaching materials with Chinese characteristics. situation.

After the establishment of the Teaching Steering Committee for various disciplines in colleges and universities in the 1990s, the work of the Teaching Steering Committee shifted from the original focus on compilation and review of textbooks to comprehensive research, consultation and guidance on the teaching of the subject. . The professional teaching steering committees of various disciplines have done a lot of work in the aspects of pre-decision research on higher education teaching, review and approval of teaching documents, evaluation of subject majors, awards for outstanding teaching achievements, teaching research, teacher training, and the formulation and review of teaching materials.

1. Actively participate in and guide the teaching reform of higher education

The Higher Education Teaching Steering Committee (or the previous Textbook Compilation and Review Committee) has brought together a large number of famous experts, scholars and teaching management experts from my country’s higher education front, and has rich educational experience. Teaching practical experience. They are not only the research formulators of teaching steering committee documents and organizers of teaching research activities in universities, but also practitioners of higher education teaching reform, and have extensive influence in universities.

Relevant information shows that from 1985 when the Textbook Compilation and Review Committee for Basic Engineering Courses in Colleges and Universities was restructured into the Teaching Steering Committee for Basic Engineering Courses in Colleges and Universities until 1990, nearly 50 summer teacher workshops were held and a wide range of Various forms of teaching research and teaching material research activities were held, more than 50 experience exchange meetings were organized and held, and test question banks for the two courses of advanced mathematics and college physics were initially built. The implementation of these tasks has played an important role in the macro-guidance and management of curriculum construction and teaching quality of basic engineering courses in colleges and universities.

After the "Lanzhou Conference" held in 1990 proposed the reform idea of ??"strengthening the foundation, attaching importance to application, and diverting training", the science teaching steering committees actively participated in the "National Science Basic Research and Teaching Talent Training Base" "Construction work, and strive to explore ways to cultivate applied science talents. For example, the three teaching steering committees of mathematics, physics, and chemistry organized research groups for applied mathematics, applied physics, and applied chemistry majors to conduct a systematic review of the situation of applied mathematics, applied physics, and applied chemistry majors in colleges and universities across the country. Investigation, analysis, research and evaluation were conducted, and methods and models for cultivating applied science talents were proposed. The Biology Teaching Steering Committee has conducted in-depth discussions on the curriculum system of biology majors since 1992, and proposed a "6 1" basic course setting plan based on a large number of updates, supplements and optimizations of traditional teaching content. . The Computer Teaching Steering Committee began to investigate and study the basic situation of computer major teaching in the country in 1993. First, a questionnaire survey was conducted on more than 80 colleges and universities of different levels and types across the country, and then a research team was formed in three groups to conduct key field surveys of more than 10 colleges and universities, holding teacher symposiums, talking with teaching comrades, and visiting teaching Facilities and equipment, based on which a research report was formed and submitted to the State Education Commission.

In the early 1990s, the engineering teaching steering committees actively carried out a series of teaching and research activities. After research and analysis, they believe that the key to establishing an engineering talent training model is to improve the overall quality of engineering talents, especially to highlight the engineering practice, creative thinking, economic management quality, and self-development ability that were lacking in the past, and strive to cultivate the talents that society needs. , different types of talents. In terms of educational thinking, four changes must be achieved: from professional counterpart education to basic quality education, from focusing on knowledge transfer to focusing on the cultivation of students' innovative abilities, from focusing on comprehensive education to focusing on personality development and comprehensively teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, from Shift from focusing on systematic disciplines to focusing on comprehensive engineering. These opinions and suggestions played a very good guiding role in the subsequent teaching reform of my country's higher engineering colleges.

In March and April 1995, the former State Education Commission officially launched and began to implement the "Teaching Content and Curriculum System Reform Plan for Higher Education Facing the 21st Century." By September 1996, experts from various teaching steering committees of colleges and universities had participated in 221 major projects approved by the former State Education Commission, including 985 sub-projects. The professional teaching steering committees of various disciplines in colleges and universities have actively participated in the writing of a series of reform research reports representing the national level and the compilation and training of more than 1,000 "21st century curriculum materials".

In the 21st century, my country’s higher education teaching is facing a series of new situations and new problems. To this end, various teaching steering committees have carried out a large amount of investigation and research work. For example, in 2001, the Teaching Guidance Subcommittee of Basic Mechanics Courses for Non-mechanics Majors conducted a comprehensive survey on the teaching situation, teaching staff, laboratory personnel, teaching materials, etc. of basic mechanics courses in various universities across the country, involving 25 domestic universities. 126 colleges and universities in provinces and cities. At the same time, we also completed a survey of relevant mechanics courses in 14 universities in Hong Kong and abroad. In 2003, the Mathematics Major Teaching Guidance Subcommittee carried out a "Research on the Current Situation of Information and Computing Science Majors and Issues Related to Major Construction", which covered the connotation and positioning, teaching content and teaching requirements, and curriculum of the information and computing science majors. , teaching material construction, teacher training, etc.

After the Ministry of Education launched the "Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Project in Colleges and Universities" in 2003, the relevant teaching steering committee and its experts actively participated in the reform of university foreign language teaching, the construction of national quality courses, and the evaluation of teaching quality in colleges and universities. and other work to ensure the smooth development of related work.

2. Revise the catalog of majors and formulate basic teaching requirements

With the development of higher education, optimize the structure of disciplines and majors, formulate training objectives and basic teaching requirements for relevant disciplines and majors, and reasonably Allocating higher education resources is a very important task.

According to preliminary statistics, from 1985 to 1990, the Teaching Steering Committee for Basic Engineering Courses in Colleges and Universities formulated basic teaching requirements for 43 courses and 58 types of courses. In 1992, the former State Education Commission organized various teaching steering committees to revise and promulgate the catalog of basic majors in various subjects in colleges and universities.

In 1997, the former State Education Commission issued the "Notice on Revision of the Undergraduate Major Catalog of General Colleges and Universities" (Jiao Gao [1997] No. 13), and the teaching steering committees in higher education are facing the 21st century teaching. Based on the research on content and curriculum system reform, through subject-specific investigation and demonstration, overall optimization of configuration, and repeated solicitation of opinions, the undergraduate majors of general colleges and universities covering 71 secondary categories and 249 majors under 11 categories were finally determined. Table of contents. The promulgation and implementation of the new catalog is an important overall measure related to the reform and development of higher education in my country. It is very important for colleges and universities to reform the talent training model, improve the quality of talent training, and enhance the adaptability of graduates. significance.

In November 2003, the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on the Establishment of Research Projects by the Teaching Steering Committees of Science and Engineering" (Jiao Gao Si Han [2003] No. 141), launching research and development strategies for professional development in related disciplines. Formulate two tasks of subject and professional teaching standards. After receiving the notice, each teaching steering committee carried out a large amount of research work and held relevant meetings. On the basis of comprehensively carrying out research on the development strategies of disciplines and majors, they wrote relevant development strategy research reports and formulated plans for each discipline. Professional teaching standards. The implementation of this work is of great significance in guiding the teaching reform and construction of subject majors in colleges and universities, guiding the evaluation of subject majors, promoting the teaching reform, construction and management of subject majors, and improving the quality and level of science and engineering education.

3. Formulate and implement a national-level teaching material construction plan

The establishment of the Textbook Editing and Review Committee in the early 1960s effectively promoted the teaching material construction work in our country's colleges and universities.

According to incomplete statistics, from 1961 to 1966, the Communist Party of China edited and published 501 kinds of college textbooks and reference books, with a circulation of about 20 million copies. It initially solved the problem of self-edited textbooks in our country and cultivated high-level and intermediate-level students in our country. Scientific and technological talents have made important contributions.

In November 1980, the Ministry of Education issued the "Fifth Five-Year Plan on Distributing Textbooks for Basic Courses in Science and Engineering in Colleges and Universities" to relevant colleges and universities, various textbook editing and review committees, and the People's Education Press (the Higher Education Press has not been restored). Notice on Preparing the Plan in 2009 (1981-1985). In December 1985, the former State Education Commission issued the "Opinions on Formulating the 1986-1990 Textbook Construction Plan for Science and Engineering Disciplines in Colleges and Universities" to the relevant textbook editing and review committees and the Higher Education Press. Each textbook editing and review committee participated in the construction of national planned textbooks from 1981 to 1985 and 1986 to 1990. During this period, the work carried out by each textbook editing and review committee includes: participating in the revision of some national common textbooks, updating the content of textbooks, and improving the quality of writing; on the other hand, promoting the publication of textbooks with the own teaching characteristics of each university, so as to make university textbooks Publishing presents a multi-variety and diversified situation.

Since the 1990s, the teaching steering committees of various subjects in colleges and universities have compiled and approved the national "Eighth Five-Year Plan", "Ninth Five-Year Plan", "Curriculum Materials for the 21st Century" and "Tenth Five-Year Plan" teaching materials construction Publication planning, and actively carried out the compilation, review, research and evaluation of basic course and professional course textbooks. During this period, the most prominent one was the publication of “Curriculum Materials for the 21st Century”.

In order to implement the spirit of the Second National Conference on Undergraduate Teaching in General Colleges and Universities and further strengthen the construction of textbooks for general higher education in my country, the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education issued the " Letter on soliciting content suggestions for the planning and construction of national textbooks for general higher education during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”. It can be seen that the Teaching Steering Committee of Colleges and Universities will continue to play an important role in the construction of national-level planned teaching materials for the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”.

4. Participated in relevant teaching evaluation work

In 1995, the former State Education Commission launched a pilot project for teaching evaluation in colleges and universities. Since then, some experts from the Teaching Steering Committee have participated in the qualified evaluation, excellent evaluation and random level evaluation of teaching work in colleges and universities. In addition, the Teaching Steering Committee also participated in the professional evaluation of colleges and universities. For example, in terms of the evaluation of applied science majors, the three teaching steering committees of mathematics, physics, and chemistry have successively evaluated applied mathematics, applied physics, and applied chemistry majors. After careful study, the relevant teaching steering committee formulated the evaluation standards and evaluated the professional points.

Since 1991, the state has selected a group of disciplines and majors that represent my country’s advanced level, have important influence and play a leading role in the country, and have successively established 83 “National Basic Science Research Institutes” and teaching talent training base", 45 national basic engineering course teaching bases, 51 national liberal arts basic subject talent training and scientific research bases, 32 national college student cultural quality education bases, etc. Under the leadership and organization of the Ministry of Education, members of the relevant teaching steering committees participated in the evaluation of these teaching bases.

5. Build high-quality teaching resources

In the process of continuous deepening of the reform of teaching content and curriculum system in colleges and universities, each teaching steering committee actively participated in the development of high-quality teaching such as high-quality courses and high-quality teaching materials. Resource construction work, and actively explore the application of modern educational technology in teaching. For example, each teaching steering committee actively participated in the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" national key scientific and technological research project established by the former State Planning Commission - the development and application of computer-assisted teaching software (referred to as the 96-750 project). In the construction of the test question bank, we also actively participated in the new century online course construction project organized by the Ministry of Education.

Since 2001, the relevant subject professional teaching steering committee has actively carried out the construction of teaching resource database.

The "Advanced Chemistry Resource Creation and Sharing Platform" organized and developed by the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Teaching Steering Committee won the first prize for national teaching achievements in 2005.

After the Ministry of Education launched the "Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Project in Colleges and Universities" in 2003, various teaching steering committees have done a lot of work to improve teaching quality and promote teaching reform experience. For example, after the national quality courses were reviewed, each teaching steering committee held corresponding seminars on experience in building quality courses and held relevant teacher training courses.

3. The Teaching Steering Committee is responsible for improving the quality of education and teaching in colleges and universities

In recent years, my country's higher education has achieved leapfrog development. At the macro level, the scale of colleges and universities is rapidly expanding, their structures are diversified, and their relationship with economic and social development is getting closer and closer. This change calls for scientific, democratic, and legalized educational decision-making. At the micro level, with the gradual decentralization of school-running autonomy, colleges and universities need to seriously consider how to obtain more external resources, rationally allocate internal resources, and form school-running characteristics. Giving full play to the role of teaching steering committees in colleges and universities and exploring the operating model of teaching steering committees in the new historical period are the needs of the reform of the teaching management system of higher education in my country.

First of all, with the transformation of government education management functions to macro management, many professional consulting, evaluation, supervision and other management functions originally undertaken by the government under the traditional education management system need to be separated and a A relatively complete legal and regulatory guarantee system, education and teaching service system, information consulting service system and evaluation and supervision system that combines government-guided management, school independent management, and industry self-disciplined management. The Teaching Steering Committee of colleges and universities is entrusted to carry out some executive, operational and transactional work, actively carry out teaching reform research, guidance and consulting services, and teaching evaluation, and gradually form an objective, fair and authoritative non-permanent academic organization to participate in manage.

Second, some colleges and universities urgently need to communicate with the outside world in terms of educational ideas and concepts, school running systems and mechanisms, education quality assurance, teacher training, teaching reform, etc. However, due to limitations in education funds, these work is affected. In addition, with the multi-level and diversified higher education and the marketization of the distribution of college graduates, some schools are struggling with how to create higher education with their own characteristics, cultivate high-quality talents that meet social needs, and form effective new education and teaching models. , teaching content and teaching methods, adjusting the subject structure and talent training structure, actively adapting to the needs of the talent market and improving international competitiveness, integrating educational resources, and standardizing teaching management. We have also encountered difficulties that urgently need to be communicated and discussed with the outside world. As an expert organization under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, the Teaching Steering Committee can play a bridge and link role in this regard by researching and formulating teaching documents, holding relevant seminars, organizing education and teaching research, and conducting teacher training and other activities.

Third, with the reform of my country’s higher education system and mechanism, social forces have emerged to run schools. Compared with the government's management of public schools, the management of private schools should emphasize the independent management of schools in accordance with the law and the participation of society in management. Therefore, the teaching steering committee of colleges and universities can play an active role in school qualification review, education quality and teaching level evaluation, school asset evaluation and teaching information exchange.

IV. The work of the Higher Education Steering Committee has a long way to go

At the founding meeting of the Higher Education Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education from 2006 to 2010, Minister Zhou Ji hoped that the new session The Teaching Steering Committee should strive to become the relying force of the Ministry of Education's macro-management of teaching work, the backbone of guiding teaching work and teaching reform in colleges and universities, the driving force to realize standardized teaching management in colleges and universities, and the leading force to strengthen the construction of teaching staff. He hopes that all committee members will consciously become leaders who are committed to teaching work, devote themselves to teaching reform, strengthen their own learning, and advocate good academic styles.

Compared with the past, the new Teaching Steering Committee has undergone certain changes in its composition.

In the past, it was only composed of experts from universities, but the new teaching steering committee is composed of experts who are engaged in the teaching of this subject in universities, experts from enterprises and institutions who are enthusiastic about talent training, and industry departments who are familiar with industry development and talent needs and care about talent training. Composed of experts. It is not difficult to find that as the reform of higher education teaching continues to deepen, the understanding of the connotation and role of the teaching steering committee of higher education is also constantly deepening.

Jiao Gaohan [2005] No. 25 pointed out that the main tasks of the new teaching steering committee are:

(1) Organize and carry out theory and practice in the teaching field of this discipline Research.

(2) Guide the construction of disciplines and majors, construction of teaching materials, teaching reform, construction of practical training bases, and laboratory construction in colleges and universities.

(3) Develop professional norms or teaching quality standards.

(4) Accept entrustment to undertake professional evaluation tasks.

(5) Accept the entrustment to undertake the review of undergraduate majors or the approval of majors in higher vocational colleges.

(6) Organize teacher training, teaching seminars and information exchange.

(7) Complete other tasks entrusted by the Ministry of Education.

Therefore, the teaching steering committee of colleges and universities will play an increasingly important role in implementing the education revitalization action plan, promoting teaching reform in colleges and universities, and improving teaching quality.