What was education like in Professor Wang’s days?

W: Good evening, I’m Nancy Johnson. The guest on our radio talk this evening is Professor Wang Gongwu. Hello, Professor Wang.
M: Hello.
W: Professor Wang, you’re now Professor Emeritus of Australia National University, and in your long academic career, you’ve worn many hats as tutor, lecturer, department head, dean, professor, and vice chancellor. However, as I know, you’re still very fond of your university days as a student.
M: That’s right. That was in 1949. The university that I went to was a brand new university then, and the only one in the country at that time. When I look back, it was an amazingly small university, and we knew everybody.
W: How did the students like you, for example, study then?
M: We didn’t study very hard, because we didn’t have to. We didn’t have all this fantastic competition that you have today. Mmm. We were always made to feel that getting a first degree in the Arts Faculty was not preparation for a profession. It was a general education. We were not under any pressure to decide on our careers, and we had such a good time. We were left very much on our own, and we were encouraged to make things happen.
W: What do you see as the most striking difference in university education since then?
M: University education has changed dramatically since those days. Things are very specialized today.
W: Yes, definitely so. And, in your subsequent career experience as an educator and later administrator in various institutions of higher education in Asia and elsewhere, Professor Wang, you have repeatedly noted that one has to look at the development of education in one particular country in a broad context. What do you mean by that?
M: Well, the whole world has moved away from elite education in universities to meet the needs of mass education, and entering universities is no longer a privilege for the few. And universities today are more concerned with providing jobs for their graduates in a way that universities in our time never had to be bothered about. Therefore, the emphasis of university programmes today is now on the practical and the u-tilitarian, rather than on a general education or on personal development.
W: Do you think that is a welcome development?
M: Well, I personally regret this development. But the basic bachelor’s education now has to cater to people who really need a piece of paper to find a decent job.
W: So you’re concerned about this development.
M: Yes, I’m very concerned. With technical changes, many of the things that you learn are technical skills, which don’t require you to become very well educated. Yet, if you can master those skills, you can get very good jobs. So the technical institutions are going to be increasingly popular at the expense of traditional universities.
W: Professor Wang, let’s look at a different issue. How do you comment on the current phenomenon because of the fees they pay?
M: Well, once you accept students on financial grounds, one wonders whether you have to pass them as well. But this development in education is one that we have to contend with. Yet, if we are concerned about maintaining standards, what we can do is to concentrate on improving the quality of education.
W: Yes, you’re right. A university is judged by the quality of education it offers. Professor Wang, let’s turn to the future. What type of graduates, in your view, do universities of the future need to produce, if they are to remain relevant?
M: I think their graduates must be able to shift from one profession to another, because they are trained in a very independent way. If you can do that, you raise the level of the flexibility of the mind. Today’s rapid changes in technology demand this adaptability. And you see the best universities in the world are already trying to guarantee that their students will be technically trained, but will be the kind of people that can adapt to any change in situation.
W: I guess many people would agree with you on that point. University education should focus on both personal and professional development of students. But still some might believe there is a definite place for education in a broader sense—that is, in personal intellectual development.
M: No doubt about that. We need people who will think about the future, about the past, and also people who will think about society. If a society doesn’t have philosophers, or people who think about the value of life, it’s a very sad society indeed.
W: Professor Wang, my last question: do you see any common ground in education between your generation and the young generation now?
M: Adapting to new challenges is perhaps the true cornerstone of our generation’s legacy to education. And the future of education in a country rests not so much on the construction of better buildings, labs, etc., but in the development of an ever-adaptable mind.
W: That’s true. The essence of education is the education of the mind. Okay, thank you very much, Professor Wang, for talking to us on the show about the changing trends in education.
M: You’re welcome.