William C. Kirby Livres

This essay discusses the recent and rapid growth in Chinese higher education, and seeks to view it in the light of earlier systems of learning in China and other international revolutions in higher education, particularly in Europe and North America. It argues that Chinese, European and American universities share many common objectives and common problems. It focuses on efforts to revitalize undergraduate education, and the often-contested role of the humanities as part of the general education of undergraduates at leading universities, seeking to educate individuals with the capacity for critical leadership, rather than students trained in skills that will become obsolete in their lifetimes.

This issue deals with the integration of modern China into processes of global exchange and cross-border interaction. The articles explore the broader theme in different ways and in different subfields, ranging from the history of political ideas to the history of institutions, from global migration of people to the transmigration of academic discourses. Focusing on modern as well as contemporary periods, the studies demonstrate that China in the course of the twentieth century became an ever more important nodal point in a complex set of worldwide networks and engagements. The integration into global networks, together with the global consciousness that corresponded with it, made possible significant connections transcending national borders. The essays also show that the effects could be homogenizing (or globalizing), but at the same time the growing interactions also produced opposition and fragmentation. Frau Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Mechthild Leutner ist Professorin für Sinologie an der Freien Universität Berlin.