Tongshi Education Reform in a Chinese University: Knowledge, Values, and Organizational Changes

Abstract

Derived from the Confucian educational tradition, the term Tongshi reflects a contemporary Chinese effort to break away from the former Soviet legacy and forge undergraduate curricula on the basis of a US general education model. In recent years, Tongshi education reform has entered the spotlight in Chinese universities as they have sought international recognition. This article examines the cultural dynamics underlying Tongshi education reform in Chinese universities, using Renmin University of China (RUC), a well-known university in China, as a case. By exploring curriculum changes before and after the reform and investigating faculty and student attitudes toward Tongshi education at RUC, this article shows that although Tongshi education exhibits features in common with both a Chinese educational tradition and the Western notion of general education, it is, nonetheless, a created rhetoric in the contemporary discourse of “building world-class universities.”