On July 29, 2005, Premier Wen went to visit Mr. Qian, who was sick at home.
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It was also on this day that one of the most famous problems in the history of Chinese education was born:
Why don't our schools produce outstanding talents?
This doubt, known as "Qian Xuesen's question", still plagues many experts in the field of education today.
In fact, in that conversation, Mr. Qian pointed out that the training model of our university is not carried out in accordance with the model of cultivating talents created by science and technology.
Thirteen years later, another junior scholar said something to the same effect, arguing that encouraging students to become "good kids" inhibits their ability to innovate.
In order to stimulate the creativity of more children who do not "follow the rules", the scholar raised funds from all parties and established "Westlake University".
Who is this scholar, what is unique about his university, and does this university really produce top talent?
Born as vice president of Tsinghua University
Shi Yigong was born in a small town in Henan Province in 1987.
Although he was not born in a big city, Shi Yigong has a pair of parents who graduated from colleges and universities.
Thanks to his excellent family environment, his grades are always among the best in the town.
Shi's father and mother were very visionary, and after realizing that the educational resources of the town would bury their son's talent, they took the child to "fight" in the provincial capital.
Naturally, there are more educational resources in big cities, especially in the field of mathematics that Shi Yigong is quite interested in.
He followed the teachers of his new school to participate in various mathematics competitions and won large and small awards, especially the first place in the province.
Such an achievement has naturally won the attention of major colleges and universities, and an olive branch has been thrown.
In this way, Shi Yigong took the "escort" quota and entered his alma mater, Tsinghua University.
As one of the top institutions of higher learning in the country, Tsinghua naturally has educational resources that are difficult for other universities to match.
Relying on his unique advantages and amazing talents, Shi Yigong has achieved outstanding results in his research topics.
In order to further improve his abilities, he decided to study abroad at an authoritative overseas school.
In his early thirties, he earned two doctorates, and even worked as a teaching assistant in a world-class university.
In 2008, he gave up the preferential treatment given by foreign universities and resolutely returned to China to teach, and later served as the vice president of Tsinghua University, devoting himself to education.
During his tenure as vice president, Shi Yigong discovered a huge drawback in the field of domestic scientific research.
Most of our researchers and students focus on theoretical research such as papers and journals.
However, we still have a long way to go from the developed countries in terms of implementation.
This situation made Shi Yigong very distressed, and he also gave birth to an idea: he wanted to cultivate high-level talents with practical ability.
Resigning is the first step for Shi Yigong to realize his ambitions, and running a school is the second step for Shi Yigong to realize his ambitions.
Thanks to his connections in the industry, Shi Yigong raised 20 billion yuan to create a new university on the banks of West Lake.
This university is "Westlake University".
There are many private colleges and universities, and what makes "Westlake University" popular is not that it has a founder of a former president of Tsinghua University, but that Shi Yigong has set up a unique school-running model.
The birth of a research university
The expansion of university enrollment is not a new thing.
In fact, with the economic development and the demand for high-level talents from enterprises, mainland universities have gone through several rounds of expansion.
University education has also changed from the former elite education to mass education.
However, Westlake University ran counter to the "enrollment expansion frenzy" and chose to "shrink the enrollment".
As recently as 2022, Westlake University had only 60 new undergraduate students, in stark contrast to the thousands of students at other universities.
However, there is a reason why the principal, Shi Yigong, only admits so many students.
Because the school implements the concept of "one policy for a lifetime".
In other words, for each student, there will be a training plan specially designed for him.
Moreover, unlike ordinary universities, where one teacher leads several classes of professional courses, the freshmen of Westlake University each have an academic teacher.
Since its establishment, the school has introduced more than 200 teachers at home and abroad, all of whom are "big bulls" in the industry.
Not only professional education, but also the cultivation of students' values.
Shi Yigong also told the students more than once about the origin of the 20 billion yuan for running the school, and told them to be grateful.
More than 20,000 donors, including patriotic entrepreneurs, overseas students, and grassroots civil servants......
The results of education at Westlake University are gratifying, and the major research teams in the university have achieved good results.
But nothing can be perfect, and while Westlake University's scientific research capabilities are soaring, there will inevitably be drawbacks.
Inevitably, there will be shortcomings
The first problem with the current problems of Westlake University is funding.
After all, Westlake University is a private university funded by the society, and the amount of financial support it receives is limited.
Moreover, because of the short time of the school, the number of scientific research achievements is still not comparable to that of Qingbei, and the level of profitability is insufficient.
Tsinghua University was able to spend more than 40 billion yuan on scientific research budget last year, and Westlake University obviously can't compare.
At the same time, Westlake's unique educational model means that it requires a lot of world-class academic resources.
These resources are positively correlated with economic capacity.
Without money, how can we attract talented people to teach on campus, how can we build laboratories, and how can we expand the library resources on campus?
In addition, because Westlake University has been in operation for a relatively short time, it is still not enough in terms of social awareness.
Many gifted candidates don't know about the university, let alone apply for it.
Compared with this school, they are more willing to apply for some old and famous schools with "211" and "double first-class" certification.
Also because of the short period of operation, Westlake University does not currently have a "doctoral program", which will definitely hinder the enrollment of students.
There are also some people in the education sector who believe that such a school-running model is a bit too risky.
Wouldn't a student, a teacher, and a training program cause a waste of educational resources?
Wouldn't it be safer to have a good teacher teach a group of students and choose the best from among the students?
The discussion about the education model has always been that the public says that the public is justified, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is reasonable.
But in any case, the purpose of Principal Shi Yigong's school is worthy of the recognition of every Chinese person.
epilogue
President Shi's characteristic school-running model is an extremely "risky" step.
If it is really accomplished, it will certainly provide new ideas for the mainland to train high-level talents, and perhaps it will really promote the reform of the educational circles.
No matter how worried we are, we all admire Mr. Shi Yigong, who dares to be the first and loves the country wholeheartedly.
Hopefully, time will bring good results, and Westlake University will be able to live up to the expectations of the whole society.
Reference Sources:
Shi Yigong's "marathon" - Chinanews.com
Westlake University celebrates its fifth anniversary Shi Yigong: Being the guardian of innovation is the mission and the future-Chinanews.com
Feeling for the family and country, innovation will go far
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