Yuwen Li: Integrating Xi Jinping's Cultural Thought into the Higher Education System
Education's rise signifies the nation’s rise; educational strength signals the nation’s strength. On the new journey toward accelerating the construction of a powerful nation in education, universities shoulder a heavy and significant mission of cultivation. They must adhere to correct cultivation standards and uphold a correct cultivation orientation. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the cultural chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It represents the latest achievement in the development of Marxist cultural theory in contemporary China and serves as the fundamental compliance [1] for guiding the work of cultivation in universities. Currently, for the vast number of universities, deeply studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture requires solidly advancing the entry of this thought into textbooks, classrooms, and minds. Efforts must be made to integrate Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into the university cultivation system to effectively enhance the quality and level of guiding university cultivation work with this scientific ideological theory.
1. University cultivation work must persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as guidance
From the perspective of its ideological foundation and theoretical source, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture inherits and develops Marxist cultural theory. It applies dialectical materialism and historical materialism to the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, putting forward ideological and theoretical propositions with original contributions regarding the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of culture. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture possesses the theoretical quality of "clarifying the substance to achieve practical utility" [2] and "integrating the substance and the utility" (mingti dayong, tiyong guantong). It addresses not only "what" and "why," but also "what to do" and "how to do it." It contains not only a worldview, values, and methodology for cultural development but also specific institutional designs, policy arrangements, and strategic plans for cultural construction. Therefore, studying Xi Jinping Thought on Culture requires grasping its comprehensive, systematic, and scientific nature. To grasp the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for university cultivation work as a whole and integrate it into university cultivation, we should focus on the following three perspectives:
Understand the great significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for building a powerful nation in education and promoting higher education reform from a historical dimension. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee sounded the horn for comprehensively deepening reform and also put forward clear requirements for deepening the reform of higher education in our country. Now, the key is to turn the blueprint into reality step by step. Universities nationwide must stand at the forefront of educational reform, focus closely on the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education (lide shuren) [3], accelerate the construction of institutional mechanisms that are full of vitality, efficient, more open, and conducive to the scientific development of schools, and serve as the vanguard of educational reform." Building a powerful nation in education and promoting the reform of educational modernization is the overall situation and general trend of current educational development in China. Whether in the dimension of history or the necessity of reality, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture holds important guiding significance for this.
Understand the prominent position of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for improving and strengthening ideological and political work in universities from a political height. Ideological and political work occupies the primary position in university construction and cultivation. Whether we can run socialist universities well by taking root in the soil of China, and whether we can cultivate socialist builders and successors with a correct political direction, qualified political literacy, noble moral character, a complete knowledge system, and excellent service capabilities—for these, the orientation and guidelines of university operation are of vital importance. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture plays an irreplaceable guiding role for universities in adhering to a firm and correct political direction and carrying out effective ideological and political work.
Understand the important value of integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into the university cultivation system from a cultural perspective. Universities are the main battlefield for education and the nursery for culture. The fields and methods of university cultivation are diverse; beyond regular curriculum and classroom teaching, there are many methods such as campus culture cultivation and practical activity cultivation. Guiding university cultivation work with Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and integrating it into the system is by no means as simple as teaching the thought in the classroom. Rather, it means persisting in using Xi Jinping Thought on Culture to guide the reform and construction of the university cultivation system, discarding "knowledge-reductionism" and "technique-reductionism," and shaping a new structure and landscape for the university cultivation system.
2. Focal points for integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into the university cultivation system
Integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into university cultivation work requires, on the one hand, systematically and scientifically applying it to guide the overall reform of cultivation work. This should be advanced holistically across multiple aspects, including political positioning, ideological guidelines, mental outlook, value orientation, central tasks, educational priorities, cultivation responsibilities, group culture, educational traditions, talent specifications, campus public opinion, and cultural inheritance. On the other hand, it is necessary to build the structural system of integration in a step-by-step and discerning manner, forming a pattern of "cultivating people by all staff, throughout the whole process, and in all-round ways" (quanyuan yuren, quan-guocheng yuren, quan-fangwei yuren) [4] using this important thought, thereby creating a cultivation system that "grasps the key link to lead the whole" (ti-gang-qie-ling) [5] while highlighting priorities.
Integration into the university teaching and cultivation system. Teaching is the main task of universities, cultivation is their primary responsibility, and teaching-based cultivation is the key channel. Integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into this system requires putting effort into curriculum construction, textbook construction, faculty development, and classroom teaching. We must strive to build a curriculum system that students truly love and benefit from for a lifetime, create a textbook system that is nutrient-rich and enjoyable for students to use, equip ourselves with high-level and high-quality faculty, and create a classroom teaching system where teachers teach with heart and students learn with heart. In the process of building the "primary classroom," we must promote curriculum and teaching reform under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, effectively integrating the thought into all levels and categories of courses. It must be integrated not only into "ideological and political theory courses" (sizheng ke) but also into other professional courses. Meanwhile, we should be adept at using educational traditions, campus culture, and school mottos to create a "secondary classroom" for teaching, initiating diverse and colorful teaching salons and study forums to consolidate and enhance classroom teaching effects within a harmonious and progressive teaching community.
Integration into the university practical cultivation system. "What is learned from books feels shallow; one must practice it to truly understand it" [6]. Practical cultivation is a beneficial supplement to teaching-based cultivation; it is a mode that university students enjoy, show great interest in, and participate in heavily. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "we should make good use of the 'Great Ideological and Political Class' (da sizheng ke)." In a sense, practical cultivation is also an important component of the "Great Ideological and Political Class" and "curriculum-based ideological and political education" (kecheng sizheng). Currently, most practical cultivation projects adopt the method of letting students walk out of the classroom and the campus into the vast world of society for field investigations and practical research. Integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into this system aims to broaden students' horizons and activate their thinking through practice, promoting the organic combination of theoretical classroom learning and extracurricular practical learning, thereby achieving the combination of theory and practice and the unification of thought and reality. It should be noted that practical cultivation is a massive and complex system, including all aspects of practical education design and the deployment of activities, as well as every link of the practical process, which needs to be grasped and expanded from the perspective of systems theory.
Integration into the university management and cultivation system. Universities are units that implement cultivation through education and management. Management activities not only provide support, service, and safeguards for cultivation practice but also influence the effect, level, and quality of cultivation. From the current perspective of university management structures, the management system—with organizational management, network management, cultural management, psychological management, scientific research management, and financial aid management as its main components—is an important part of management-based cultivation and the basic reliance for universities to exercise their management functions. To a certain extent, whether university management is good, whether the system is sound, and how effective the management is are all closely related to the effects of cultivation. Therefore, integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into this system requires fully giving play to the role of "culture as the vehicle for the Tao" (wen yi zai dao) [7] and "cultivating people through culture" (wen yi hua ren). We must establish and improve mechanisms and systems for serving and educating people through management, fully mobilize management resources from all sides, earnestly block and patch management loopholes, and enhance the capability and level of management-based cultivation.
3. Methodological paths for integrating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture into the university cultivation system
Using Xi Jinping Thought on Culture to guide the construction of the university cultivation system is both a basic requirement for universities to study and implement the thought, and an inherent requirement for comprehensively enhancing the theoretical armament capacity, educational reform level, and social service efficacy of university cultivation work. Broadly speaking, this integration requires putting effort into and achieving new results in theoretical learning and application, strengthening institutional construction, innovating cultivation ideas, and enhancing educational effectiveness.
Strengthen the study and application of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a broad and profound theoretical system with its own philosophical foundation, historical process of formation and development, and rich ideological content and theoretical propositions. Grasping the essence and core meaning through study is the prerequisite and foundation for its integration into the university cultivation system. Through consistent, sustained, and in-depth study, we should master its ideological origins, theoretical foundations, realistic requirements, and content system—especially the worldview and methodology contained therein—to facilitate a holistic grasp of the macro-picture and spiritual essence of its integration, thereby using this important thought to open up paths for the construction of the university cultivation system and open up new frontiers in cultivation practice.
Strengthen the institutional and mechanistic construction of the university cultivation system. In the process of Chinese-path modernization, the continuous deepening of reform and opening up, increasingly frequent international exchanges and competition, and the rapid development of social informatization and digital transformation have presented new propositions and tasks for university cultivation work. It is imperative to establish and improve a university cultivation work system and construct a scientific, perfect, and effectively functioning institutional mechanism. In implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, universities must increase reform efforts in development concepts, talent specifications, educational methods, teaching modes, and cultural ecosystems, paving a new path for building socialist universities that are rooted in the soil of China and run education that satisfies the people.
Innovate the ideas and methods of university cultivation work. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China's educational undertakings have made new historical progress. However, at the same time, tendencies such as "emphasizing intellectual education while neglecting moral education," "emphasizing skills while neglecting values," and "emphasizing knowledge transmission while neglecting quality cultivation" still exist in cultivation work. Shortcomings also remain in the quality of university talents, such as weak independent thinking capabilities and a lack of critical thinking and innovative awareness, which to some extent affect the quality and level of China's higher education. To implement Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, universities must coordinate and strengthen the synergistic development and integrated training of education, technology, and talent. They should formulate strategies consistent with educational modernization, improve policy measures that match the requirements of a powerful nation in education, innovate the ideas and methods of cultivation work, and promote the modernized transformation and high-quality development of university cultivation work.
Strive to enhance the actual effectiveness of university cultivation work. Cultivation is the inherent duty of universities, and training qualified talent is their central task. As "processing plants" and "incubators" for talent, whether they can cultivate qualified and outstanding talent concerns the success or failure of university operations and the national educational cause. Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture requires putting the concepts of "cultural cultivation" and "fostering virtue through education" at the forefront of university work. We must strive to cultivate batch after batch of socialist builders and successors needed by the Party and the people—those who serve the people, serve socialism with Chinese characteristics, and serve reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. To this end, we must formulate scientific and reasonable evaluation systems and measurement standards, using "putting virtue first" and "possessing both integrity and talent" as the yardstick to test whether university talents meet standards and are outstanding, striving to improve the quality of cultivation and the actual achievements and effects of university cultivation work.