As the national education digitalization strategy action starts its third year, education digitalization is entering a new stage of development. Higher education is the leading force. Looking to the past, adhering to the “3C” concept of prioritizing Connection, Content, and Cooperation, higher education digitalization has achieved remarkable results such as iterative upgrades of infrastructure systems, open sharing of high-quality educational resources, and deepening domestic and international cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the comprehensive transformation of higher education digitalization. Based on the current situation, focusing on the “3I” road of Integration, Intelligence, and Internationalization, Wuhan University of Technology actively carries out pioneering practical explorations and strives to be a “test field” for higher education digitalization. It has achieved higher quality in aggregating data resources, higher efficiency in applying intelligent technology, and higher levels of international cooperation, providing support and guidance for the innovation and development of higher education digitization. Looking to the future, we should pay more attention to reshaping the education ecosystem through artificial intelligence, deepening the application service orientation, and promoting an in-depth overall transformation of higher education digitalization.

Deepening and comprehensive reform?requires comprehensive reform of higher education. The necessity and urgency of comprehensive higher education reform, its goal tasks, and the?critical stages’ core?keys and breakthrough points are determined by?Chinese modernization’s tasks and historical orientation.?To deepen this comprehensive reform is about system and mechanism, specifically, the reform of “decentralization, regulation, and service”, the system reform of science-education integration, the system and mechanism reform of personnel and talents in universities, the supply-side reform of higher education, the organizational method reform of teaching and research, and the method reform of evaluation and assessment. Abolishment and establishment should go together. Establish the new before abolishing the old. The key lies in “establishment”.

The virtual teaching research section, which is a digital variant of the physical teaching research section, is a new type of higher education teaching support mechanism established by using information technology and the Internet. It is centered around research on specific subject teaching, course groups teaching, and major teaching reform themes, forming a national or regional network of experts and scholars in colleges, universities and related institutes. It is necessary for the popularization of higher education in the new era and may lead the direction of high-quality development of higher education. Virtual teaching research section has characteristics such as inter school symbiosis, loose relationships, collaborative innovation, and academic navigation. They should fully utilize their organizational advantages and play a role in coordination, promotion, platform, cohesion, and navigation. In order to function effectively, a virtual teaching research section must have academic highlands, enthusiastic academic leaders in teaching research, academic backbone, and high-quality seminar and exchange activities. Strengthening the construction of virtual teaching research sections can take measures such as holding academic forums on teaching, organizing research on cross-university education and teaching projects, leveraging network connectivity and radiation, establishing cross-university virtual operation mechanisms, and seeking enthusiastic support from institutions of higher education.

The construction of the knowledge system in higher education studies is a dynamic process deeply influenced by the characteristics of the era. It is not only the result of the intertwining of history and reality but also the product of the interaction between diachronic and synchronic perspectives. This paper analyzes the particularities of higher education activities in China within the context of the characteristics of the era, elucidating the complexities of Chinese higher education from both diachronic and synchronic viewpoints. It proposes a methodology for reconstructing the knowledge system of higher education studies, including the dialectical handling of the knowledge system’s temporality and foresight, theoretical and practical aspects, instrumental and ideological dimensions, and imitation and autonomy.

The statistical analysis of higher education research papers published for two decades has the important reference value for producing original knowledge system in Chinese education, and supporting high-quality education development with high-quality education scientific research, and improving the awareness of research activates, and cultivating new academic talents. According to the statistics of the 23 most influential journals in education, public undergraduate universities and colleges contributing far more than other types of institutions. The contribution of “Double First-Class” universities is relatively large, while the participation of other types is low. Regionally, there is a large gap between the central and western regions, northeast regions and eastern regions. Higher education research field has maintained openness due to the diversification of participating institutions and the mainstreaming of co-authorship. Based on the results of keywords analysis, the editorial office selected the top 10 academic hotspots of higher education research in 2023, and invited scholars make relevant comments on the process, opinions and tendencies of the annual research.

Under the trend of birthrate decline, using queue factor population prediction method and constructing ARIMA time series model, three fertility plans of low, medium, and high are set to predict the supply and demand scale and gap situation of higher education students in China from 2024 to 2050. Research has found that the supply of higher education students exceeded demand between 2024 and 2037, forming a demand gap that sharply decreased from 5.1466 million to 169.8 thousand people; Between 2038 and 2050, there will be a trend of oversupply, resulting in a supply gap that has expanded from 2.7402 million to 11.7185 million, 9.9678 million, and 8.2169 million, respectively. This indicates a historic turning point in the number of students around 2038, which may trigger a crisis in the quantity and quality of students, and create an imbalance in the higher education ecosystem. In this regard, multiple measures should be taken simultaneously to vigorously boost the social fertility level, continuously enhance the supply capacity of students, establish a monitoring and crisis warning mechanism for students, promote the adaptation of enrollment scale and ecological carrying capacity, and achieve a higher level of dynamic balance between the supply and demand of higher education students.

Generative artificial intelligence not only promotes self-regulated learning among college students, but also exacerbates academic misconduct such as plagiarism and copying. Generative artificial intelligence cannot directly shape college students’ creativity, and its impact on creativity depends on students’ self-regulated learning and their ethical boundaries in using generative artificial intelligence. The tension between the convenience of technology and the utilitarian learning approach fostered by meritocracy, as well as the contradiction between weak awareness of academic ethics and inadequate supervision, are the keys to triggering inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence, which in turn stifles college students’ creativity. Self-regulated learning can not only reduce college students’ inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence but also effectively mitigate the negative impact of such inappropriate use on their creativity. Enhancing the self-regulated learning of college students, helping them to rationally deal with intelligent technology, and reducing the inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence are the keys to realizing the potential of generative artificial intelligence in enhancing college students’ creativity.

Self-control is an essential cornerstone for the academic achievement and long-term development of college students. This study constructs a localized system of observation indicators for self-control based on a systematic review of the multidimensional theoretical concepts of self-control and the characterization of self-control deficiency among Chinese college students. Utilizing nationwide tracking data of university students, we analyzed the driving effects and mechanisms of self-control on academic achievement. Our findings indicate that a lack of self-control constitutes a collective crisis among Chinese college students, manifesting in characteristics such as difficulty in controlling efforts, failure in delaying gratification, unhealthy sleep habits, and symptoms of digital distraction, across academic, personal, and online domains. Through the mediating effect of academic engagement, self-control exerts a significant driving effect on both current and long-term academic achievement. This study provides scientific support for enhancing self-control among college students and ensuring the quality of talent cultivation in higher education.

Achieving integrated innovation among government, industry, academia, and research is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed in the development of new forms of productivity. Based on the TOE framework, this study analyzes the driving paths of collaborative innovation among these sectors using a sample of 114 publicly listed companies in emerging digital intelligence fields, employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The results indicate that high-quality productivity levels are generated through four main paths: “multi-dimensional and comprehensive driving, government-industry-academia collaboration, enterprise-led, and environment-supported”.Government innovation support policies are identified as significant driving factors for companies to overcome their own limitations and external resource constraints. Collaboration between industry and academia, along with an increased proportion of academic executives, enhances the opportunities for typified cooperation among different entities and paths. In the future, it is essential to harness the collaborative innovation capabilities of all parties, strengthen the government’s guiding and coordinating role in the innovation system, establish a supply-demand mechanism for industry-academia-research cooperation that aligns with the developmental needs of enterprises, and explore the creation of a distinctive government-industry-academia research cooperation system that fits regional development characteristics and leverages enterprise advantages.

The statistical analysis of vocational education research papers over a period of nine years provides important reference value for promoting the construction of an Independent Knowledge System for vocational education in China, enhancing the level of research, and cultivating research teams. The statistical analysis of 27 educational journals found that public universities and public higher vocational colleges are the main contributors, but the contribution rate of public universities has surpassed that of public higher vocational colleges. “Double First-Class” construction universities and “Double High-Level Plan” vocational colleges have made significant contributions to the publication of papers. Although there are dynamic changes among regions, the absolute dominance of the eastern region remains unchanged. Papers are mainly published with co-authorship, with an increasing proportion of two authors. The authorship of vocational education papers is diverse, reflecting the openness of the research ecosystem. Through comprehensive word frequency screening and analysis, research team have distilled the top ten academic hotspots in vocational education research for 2023, and analyzed the progress, main viewpoints, and research trends.

To solidify the foundation of mental health in graduate education, a comprehensive understanding of the basic situation of mental health problems is essential. This study employed meta-analytical approach, incorporating 330 articles from 2010 to 2023 (involving 243 161 individuals), to investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of major mental health problems among Chinese graduate student. The results indicated that the prevalence of mental health problems among graduate students, from high to low, included: academic burnout (32.7%), sleep problems (24.9%), compulsive issues (23.1%), depression (21.0%), anxiety (16.0%), hostility (9.7%), and suicide ideation (8.8%). Factors such as the year of literature publication, graduates’ educational phase and major, and measurement tools significantly impacted the prevalence. Based on these findings, strategies and recommendations are proposed: prioritizing the high incidence of mental health issues and implementing targeted solutions; being vigilant against the malignant development of mental health problems and improving tracking and monitoring mechanisms; paying attention to individual differences in mental health problems and enhancing the service and support system; innovating assessment tools for mental health problems and establishing standardized detection criteria.

Resilient thinking is embedded in the specific field of university governance in the era of digital intelligence, providing a feasible solution for shaping resilient traits and promoting resilient governance through “technological empowerment” in action to achieve modernization of governance systems and capabilities. There are differences but close connections between “resilient governance” and “governance resilience”. The former is a thinking mode and practical approach to governance, showcasing certain characteristics of governance actions and processes; The latter focuses more on “resilience”, which is the goal direction and result expression of governance actions. The basic dimensions of university governance resilience in the era of digital intelligence mainly include spatial and temporal breadth, structural moderation, depth of empowerment, target accuracy, and value temperature. The orderly implementation of university resilience governance includes the transformation of governance roles from managerial leadership to entrepreneurial leadership, the creation of governance scenarios supported by digital and intelligent technology, and the linkage of internal and external resources and information through virtual open platforms.

Education, science and technology, and talents are the basic and strategic support for comprehensively building a modern socialist country. The value orientation of higher education to build scientific and technological power is reflected in fulfilling the mission of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, taking on the task of the realization of a strong socialist modernization country, and aiming at the development of the world’s scientific and technological innovation highland. Based on the widely used index system of scientific and technological innovation ability, this study selects indicators closely related to higher education and integrates three dimensions, namely research and development investment, human resources and scientific and technological achievements, to analyze its current challenges in the process of promoting the construction of scientific and technological power. In the future, key strategies that higher education should pursue include: Perfecting the legislation system of scientific and technological innovation and stimulating the original innovation power of university; Improving the efficiency of university research and development input and promoting the emergence of top original achievements; Strengthening the independent cultivating of talent echelon and optimizing the ecological environment of innovation; Constructing the evaluation system of innovation value and promoting scientific and technological achievement transform.

Climate change has become a significant challenge for all humanity, and universities play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Harvard University has a long-standing history, clear objectives, and well-developed practices in response to climate change. Based on the framework of a “whole-institution approach”,an analysis of Harvard University’s exploratory initiatives reveals that it comprehensively addresses climate change in five areas: establishing climate management mechanisms, implementing green campus operations, nurturing climate change professionals, conducting multidimensional climate science research, and providing diverse climate-related societal services. Harvard University’s response to climate change is characterized by a comprehensive and holistic approach, the integration of theory and practice, the involvement of school leadership and student engagement, and cross-disciplinary, cross-campus and transnational collaboration; nevertheless, it also faces many challenges.

Grasping the characteristics of students’ differences is an important entry point for the high-quality development of vocational education, and it is the prerequisite and foundation for educational and teaching reforms. Based on Biggs’ “3P” teaching-learning model, we construct a framework for analyzing higher vocational students’ learning activities and differentiate student groups. Through the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), the higher vocational education students were categorized into five types based on the characteristics of their learning activities: learning indifference, collaborative promotion, inefficient learning, balanced development and twice the effort with half the effort. Higher vocational education students are predominantly inefficient learning. Different types of students have their own distribution of demographic variables, which proves the value of exploring the learning characteristics and differences of higher vocational students through categorization. According to the learning characteristics of different types of higher vocational students, higher vocational colleges and teachers should accurately study the types of students and provide differentiated learning support; grasp the attributes of the types of students and construct differentiated teaching programs; and implement accurate targeted teaching strategies based on the stage-specific characteristics of students.

The return of vocational college students to their hometown for employment is of great significance to realize the revitalization of rural talents and rural industries. This paper explains the mechanism of vocational college students’ intention to return hometown for employment from the perspectives of instrumental rationality and value rationality. Through the empirical analysis of 29 529 nationwide samples obtained in 2022, it was found that the rustic feeling positively affects their intention to return hometown for employment, and the sense of urban integration plays a part of mediating role; family endowment negatively affects their intention to return hometown for employment through the partial intermediary of individual social capital and human capital; the effect of returning policy perception positively moderates the influence of rustic feeling on their intention to return hometown for employment. In light of this, local governments should establish precise channels for disseminating returning policies, leveraging the ties of rustic feeling to facilitate the return of vocational talent; vocational education authorities pilot a targeted enrollment of returning hometown for employment, guiding the adaptation of disciplines relevant to rural industries; vocational colleges enhance job assistance for students from underprivileged backgrounds, advancing rural practice and urban job-seeking support; vocational college students endeavor to fortify their individual capital and actively acquaint themselves with returning policies to cultivate rustic feelings.

Geopolitical crises brought uncertainties and challenges to international research collaboration. Given this background, it is the top priority of China’s scientific and technological development strategy currently to promote “organized research” in international collaboration, and to coordinate the free exploration of scientists with the national strategic goals. From the perspective of the synergetic theory and through an empirical investigation of 10 international collaboration projects relying on China’s universities, the study found that organized research in international collaboration has three aspects of connotation, which are values, knowledge characteristics and organizational forms. On this basis, the study analyzed the current problems and strategies of organized research in international collaboration of Chinese universities. The research proposed to build an innovation community on the basis of openness, trust and sharing, identify the focus of the organizational system to coordinate the interests and needs of different subjects, strengthen the linkage between international scientific research collaboration and talent training advantages, and improve the scientific research evaluation and management system.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established the integrated promotion of education, science and technology, and talent as an important foundation and support for improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the National Education Conference the need to promote education development, scientific and technological innovation, and talent cultivation as a whole. Scientific and technological innovation is the driving force for disciplinary development and the track for talent growth. Higher education is the foundation of scientific and technological innovation and the nursery for reserve talents. Only by adhering to the integrated development of education, technology, and talent can we open up new fields and tracks of development, continuously shape new driving forces and advantages, and promote high-quality development of higher education. We must firmly grasp the direction of scientific and technological innovation development and build a high-quality higher education system; To actively adapt to the demand for scientific and technological innovation talents and promote the transformation of the talent-cultivation model in higher education; We need to improve institutional mechanisms and strengthen the cultivation of scientific and technological innovation talents through diversified collaboration; We should actively embrace the technological revolution of the intelligent era and shape a new form of digitalization in higher education; We need to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and create a good open innovation ecosystem.

Strengthening technological innovation in local universities is a crucial measure for fully implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development and promoting high-quality economic and social development at the regional level. As the main entities for knowledge accumulation, creation, and dissemination within their respective regions, local universities serve as important carriers and platforms for original innovation and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Traditional methods, such as transfer and licensing, are facing practical difficulties. Therefore, there is an urgent need for equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities, particularly through further exploration and optimization of equity investment. Through methods such as literature review, data analysis, and case studies, this paper summarizes and analyzes the current situation and issues of equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities, and concludes common models for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities in China. Drawing on domestic and international practices, the paper explores effective pathways for equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities. These research findings provide valuable insights for promoting technological innovation and optimizing the mechanism for transforming scientific and technological achievements in local universities, ultimately facilitating the sound development of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities.

Cultivating top creative talents is an important function of the education system and a major educational policy goal. The higher education system, especially the postgraduate education system, plays an indispensable role in cultivating top creative talents. Since the reform and opening up, China has insisted on independently cultivating high-level talents on the one hand, and on the other hand has adopted policies to encourage students to study abroad, thus forming a dual path of local and study abroad in the cultivation of top creative postgraduate talents. However, with changes in international geopolitics and the enhancement of China’s independent training capabilities, this dual training model is undergoing profound changes. Research points out that after the epidemic, the proportion of college graduates in elite universities going abroad to study for postgraduate studies has shown a significant downward trend. At the same time, some students who are unable to study in the United States have turned to countries such as the United Kingdom and Singapore to study abroad. In this context, on the one hand, China should seize the historical opportunity and continue to improve the ability to independently cultivate top creative postgraduate students. On the other hand, China should further adhere to the opening of education to the outside world and promote the diversification of study abroad destination countries.

The influence of out-of-class activities on ability development is the cornerstone of the continuous improvement of the university and the choice of students to participate in activities. Through in-depth analysis of 139,971 survey data and 17 text materials, it is found that out-of-class experience has significantly positive predictive effect on comprehensive ability, cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability, with predictive power of 0.235, 0.157 and 0.313. The predictive power of all kinds of out-of-class experiences on ability development was ranked as academic activity experience, social practice experience, sports activity experience and community activity experience; the efficiency of sports activity was prominent, while the efficiency of community activity was poor. Out-of-class experience mainly affects the cognitive ability development in an “explicit” way and the non-cognitive ability development in a “implicit” way. Colleges and universities should encourage and support students to participate in out-of-class activities and regulate and guide the healthy development of community organizations. Students should participate in out-of-class activities selectively to improve their ability structure. The academic circle should pay attention to the out-of-class experience of rural students to lay a foundation for the fairness of the higher education process.

Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021, a new quality productive forces evaluation index system is constructed using technology productivity, digital productivity, and green productivity as primary indicators to explore the impact mechanism of higher education resource allocation on the development of new quality productive forces. The results indicate that the allocation of higher education resources can promote the development of new quality productive forces and play a mediating role through industrial transformation and upgrading. The impact of higher education resource allocation on the development of new quality productive forces exhibits a “S” - shaped growth cycle with dual threshold effects and spatial spillover effects that benefit neighboring regions. There is heterogeneity in the impact of different geographical regions and resource types as observation points. Based on this, the main direction should be to promote the improvement of technological productivity, and higher education resources should be regarded as key value investments to promote the development of new quality productive forces. Guide the deep integration of the education chain and the industry chain, and respond quickly when traditional growth drivers still have potential and the scale effect of higher education has not reached a turning point. Establish a spatial correlation awareness for the development of new quality productive forces, and optimize the allocation of higher education resources through regional coordinated development.

The high-quality development of higher education requires respecting the ecological law of knowledge activities and following the principle of integrity. However, due to the lack of integrity and systematism of the current higher education strategy in China and the problem of single key construction strategy, the structural imbalance of the higher education system occurs. These problems include non-key universities falling into the dilemma of resource shortage, strong dependence of colleges and universities but weak independent development and service ability, excessive competition among colleges and universities damages the education ecology, and the homogenization of different types of colleges and universities, which violates the basic logic of high-quality development. Therefore, China’s higher education development strategy should strengthen the overall construction, from building a few first-class universities to building a first-class university system. As a development paradigm, college cluster development guides colleges and universities to realize collaborative innovation and efficiency value-added in strengthening inter-university cooperation, which is an effective practice path to promote the construction of first-class university system. To this end, we should provide value guidance, lay discipline foundation and strengthen system guarantee for the development of university clusters through university cluster governance.

Promoting vocational integration, industry and education integration, and science and education integration is not only the necessary meaning of higher education to shoulder the mission of strengthening the country, but also the necessary path to achieve its own high-quality development. However, after examining the promotion of “three types of integration” in higher education, it is found that the practice is faced with a triple path dependence on the system, resources and subjectivity. The obstruction problems, such as “open but not smooth”, “joint but not deep”, and “fusion but not innovate”, in linkage integration have not been fundamentally solved. In the future, we can actively explore the reform direction of “three types of integration” in higher education from the aspects of perfecting the linkage mechanism of talent supply and demand for the construction of modern industrial system, promoting the organic connection between the education and talent chain and the industrial and innovation chain, and building a higher education innovation ecosystem with technological progress as the core.

Social media is widely used in doctoral students. 716 academic doctoral students were studied to explore the influence of social media use motivation and addiction on doctoral students’ academic innovation ability, and the mediating role of social-emotional competence and attention failure. The results showed that some social media addictions exist among the doctoral student population; there are differences in demographic variables such as gender and motivation for doctoral studies; motivation for social media use (cognitive and hedonic) and addiction significantly positively and negatively predicted doctoral students’ academic innovation ability, respectively, with openness to experience, emotional stability and attention failure mediating this predictive relationship. Therefore, colleges and universities should pay attention to the status quo and underlying causes of doctoral students’ social media addiction, pay attention to the construction of good mentoring relationship and students’ academic progress, and pay attention to the cultivation of social-emotional competence among doctoral students.

The teachers of vocational education are the logical starting point of the typification of vocational education, the important content of the construction of the modern system of vocational education, and the fundamental basis for the construction of a double-qualified teacher team. However, there are some difficulties in training vocational education teachers, such as unclear characteristics, weak subject, insufficient total amount and weak guarantee. Guided by the optimization of the typification orientation of vocational education, policies should be implemented in combination with vocational integration, collaborative innovation, and production and education integration. The quantity and quality of teacher training should be improved by strengthening the construction of technical normal colleges, encouraging high-level comprehensive universities and normal colleges to participate in training, and adopting project-based or commissioned targeted training. It is needed to realize the dual ability of academic training and production, complete on-the-job training, and serve local regular training; actively promote the integration of production and education, interdisciplinary studies, and international exchanges; reform the vocational education teacher enrollment system, qualification and skill certification system, and standard construction system; systematically promote the training level of vocational education teachers, and serve the typification construction of vocational education.

The modernization of internal governance in Chinese characteristic universities plays an important role in promoting the construction of Chinese path to modernization. Against the backdrop of new challenges, tasks, and requirements in the modernization of internal governance in Chinese universities, to increase the construction of the internal governance system of Chinese characteristic universities, it is necessary to adhere to the principal responsibility system under the leadership of the Party Committee, clearly define the strategic direction for serving the overall development of the industry, establish a sound internal operational system for the coordinated development of diverse powers, and optimize internal operating mechanisms; to accelerate the modernization of internal governance in universities with Chinese characteristics, efforts should be made to strengthen the Party’s leading role, grasp the basic logic of modernization of internal governance in universities, strengthen the reform efforts in key areas within universities, and enhance the level of education and governance of university cadres.

When education thrives, the nation thrives. When education is strong, the nation is strong. All world powers are also educational powerhouses, and a strong higher education system is a prerequisite for building a global superpower. By focusing on the trends and future prospects of global higher education transformation, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis the historical positioning and challenges faced by the reform and development of higher education with Chinese characteristics. Incorporating the theoretical framework and core features of green education, it explores Chinese strategies for the transformation of higher education: concentrating on autonomous talent cultivation to build a green talent nurturing system; focusing on autonomous discipline development to establish a green academic development system; emphasizing self-reliance and innovation in technology to construct a green technological innovation system; focus on strengthening cultural confidence and constructing a green cultural governance system. Accelerate the high-quality construction of first-class universities, develop green education, and blaze a new path of world-class higher education with Chinese characteristics to achieve the organic unity among people-oriented, open sharing, high quality and high efficiency, and sustainable development.

National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”) is the major strategic project to consolidate independent training basis of top-notch innovation talents in new era, promote the reform and breakthrough of teacher workforce development, and support the construction of a leading country in education, a leading country in science and technology and a leading country in talents. In the “National Excellence Program”, the innovative selection method, cultivation method, recruitment method of postgraduates are proposed creatively to cultivate postgraduates based on the selection standard of happy teaching and optimal teaching, and the service tracking guarantee. The program is of strategic significance and the value of the times in intensifying the Communist Party’s leadership to teacher education, consolidating the foundation of building a leading country in education, and optimizing the education system of teachers with Chinese characteristics.

In the new era of advancing high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, the independent cultivation of top-notch innovation talents has put forward new requirements for the teacher education system. The National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”) aims to consolidate the foundation for cultivating top-notch innovation talents by promoting the training of graduate-level science teachers at high-level universities, reflecting the policy’s role in filling the gap in science teacher education and optimizing the structure of teacher education policies. It breaks away from the path dependence of traditional normal education systems and promotes the joint construction of high-quality science teachers by high-level universities in collaboration with primary and secondary schools. The plan directly addresses the prominent structural contradictions in the primary and secondary school science teachers and leverages the advantages of world-class universities with Chinese characteristics in cultivating students in science and engineering. Zhejiang University, based on its traditional strengths of being a comprehensive, research-oriented, and innovative institution, creates a first-class base for cultivating outstanding science teachers by making effort on three levels: the overall plan, specific programs, and individual points. The university explores a “Science/Engineering + Education” training program and implements a new model for the independent cultivation of excellent science teachers, characterized by “project-based organization, comprehensive training, and full-chain collaboration”.

University faculty’s academic status plays a crucial role in academic governance as it reflects the hierarchical structure of the academic system and enables differentiated support based on institutional classification. Based on the actors’ motivations, opportunities, and interaction forms, this research constructs four mechanisms for configuring the academic status of university faculties: “absorption-embedding” “principal-agent” “induction-response” and “sinking-connection”. By analyzing the process of national talent projects, this study validates and analyzes the actors, underlying logic, operational boundaries, and constraints associated with each mechanism for allocating academic status. The exploration of these mechanisms provides a fresh perspective for evaluating the reform of the academic governance model, by establishing connections between administrative authority, academic prowess, and individual initiative. Additionally, it offers valuable insights to enhance organizational and individual academic vitality, thereby facilitating the high-quality development of the academic profession.

The integration of science and education is to place the two systems of scientific research and education in a symbiotic and interdependent development field, and work together to promote talent cultivation and practical activities. As an important intersection of education and scientific research, the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents can achieve synergistic effects in improving the quality of talent cultivation by strengthening their deep integration, and produce significant results beyond simple superposition. The cultivation of top-notch innovative talents needs to follow the laws of education and the development and growth of students’ physical and mental health, break down the barriers between different stages of primary, secondary, and tertiary education, effectively connect higher education and basic education, achieve differentiated cultivation, reasonable extension, and effective connection at different levels of students, and build a systematic and long-term integrated mechanism for the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The cultivation of top-notch innovative talents should not only break through the existing conventional mode of talent cultivation, but also respect the laws of educational development and talent growth, and carry out targeted and specialized training.

Higher education studies represent a crucial cornerstone in the development of an independent knowledge system within the realm of Chinese philosophy and social sciences. Although the framework of higher education studies has been established, its explanatory power is currently insufficient and requires enhancement. Despite the proliferation of research in higher education, there is a notable lack of practical guidance, requiring refinement and consolidation. Despite its preeminent status in education, higher education lacks theoretical innovation and urgently calls for independent construction. The future construction of an independent knowledge system in higher education studies should prioritize the development of three major systems: disciplinary, academic, and discourse. The construction of the disciplinary system in higher education studies should emphasize autonomy, while the academic system should emphasize collaboration, and the discourse system should emphasize integration. Three major sources of importance for an independent knowledge system in higher education are identified: awareness derived from regular practices in higher education activities, truth consensus from government policy supply, and innovative systematic knowledge synthesized by scholars. Finally, we propose establishing a triple-helix model of knowledge production in the discipline of higher education studies, consisting of practitioners in higher education activities, policymakers in higher education, and researchers in higher education theory.

Curriculum reform is a reflection of the deep participation of universities in the global sustainable development agenda, and UNESCO also calls on countries to incorporate sustainable development education into the core curriculum of education systems at all levels by 2025. The UK is one of the earlier country to carry out sustainable development education through university courses. The University of Manchester places equal emphasis on “social responsibility”, “teaching”, and “scientific research” in its school running orientation, and focuses on promoting sustainable development goals (SDGs) through curriculum action. Manchester University has actively explored how to integrate SDGs into university curriculum. In terms of curriculum design, offering sustainable development MOOCs, sustainable development subject courses, and interdisciplinary sustainable development courses; in terms of course content, integrating the thematic content of the United Nations’ SDGs into multiple disciplines; in terms of curriculum teaching, blended learning is adopted and exploratory learning is emphasized. The University of Manchester’s strategy of embedding SDGs into the curriculum can inspire China to play the role of the curriculum in promoting SDGs, incorporate SDGs into the curriculum according to local conditions, and establish the corresponding guarantee mechanism.

The integration of science and education is a key measure to promote the qualitative transition of higher vocational education, seize the opportunity of the times and gain strategic initiative. The integration of science and education from the concept to the concrete must take the curriculum as the transfer station, and the important role of the curriculum to play the transfer station is to be able to reconcile the multiple conflicts arising from the integration of science and technology and education, which is comprehensively manifested as a “curriculum order”. The reconciliation of these conflicts requires that the higher vocational science and education integration curriculum can form the value order of “seeking use → seeking truth → seeking goodness” in the value order, construct the structural system of “horizontal cross-border-vertical self-generation” in the structural order, establish the best niche of “administration-market-major” in the subject order, weave the institutional network of “diachronic continuity-synchronic connectivity” in the institutional order, and shape the evaluation pattern of “subject coordination-way complementarity” in the evaluation order. The generation of these five orders is a process from abstract to concrete and then to abstract, from invisible to tangible and then to invisible, from spontaneous to planned and then to spontaneous. It also depends on the dynamic generation of curriculum organization, system, resources and practice in the integration of science and education in higher vocational education.

To construct an independent knowledge system of higher education, it should adhere to the central task of high-level personnel training, accurate grasp and follow the logic and value orientation of the division of different types of disciplines, expand constantly the research content combined with the reality of higher education, improve problem-based and multi-disciplinary research paradigms, define scientifically the boundary of the discipline, promote interdisciplinary and integration, accelerate the development of graduate education for professional degree, deepen the reform and innovation, carry out objectively a comparison between Chinese and American graduate students in education discipline, highlight the Chinese characteristics, so as to build the Chinese research paradigm, discourse system, and discipline system of higher education, and to make greater contributions for speeding up the construction of a leading country in education, science and technology, and talent.

Switzerland is moving towards a permeable vocational education and training (VET) system through reforms such as the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate, with the aim of guaranteeing learners’ right to an individualized education, meeting the economic and social demand for a highly skilled workforce, promoting lifelong learning for all and ensuring equity in education. A number of laws have been adopted to clarify the meaning and status of the concept of permeability in the Swiss VET system, which is firmly rooted in its own identity and committed to achieving permeability at different levels within it. In order to provide more flexible learning pathways and lifelong learning for all, the Swiss VET system also focuses on permeability with general education and the recognition of informal learning outcomes.

Since the Chinese Economic Reform, China’s K-12 science education program has made notable progress. However, in the present landscape, several pressing challenges persist. These include a shortage of highly qualified science teachers, the imperative to enhance their professional competence, and the need for an improved training framework. To meet the needs of the professional development of science teachers in K12 schools, the Ministry of Education put forward the National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”), training high-quality future K-12 school teachers. The initiative is carefully designed to improve the education system, with a focus on enhancing science education. The “National Excellence Program” involves effectively utilizing the strong scientific research abilities and diverse interdisciplinary resources found in leading high-level comprehensive universities. It intends to train science teachers who will have strong passion in teaching, exceptional skills, and a solid grasp of science and technology. Responding to the imperative need, Shanghai Jiao Tong University established its own College of Education, consistently placing science education at the forefront and consistently pioneering innovative approaches to cultivate future science scholars. This article provided some valuable practical insights, serving as an important foundation for fostering innovative scientific and technological innovation talents in our country.

Institutionalized higher education research originated in the United States in the 1960s, with Martin Trow and Burton Clark making unique contributions as pioneers. Since the 1980s, the rise of neoliberalism, the development of globalization, and the expansion of technology have become prominent features of the higher education system. Higher education research needs to conduct in-depth analysis of these developments and their effects. In the new era, the higher education system itself faces new challenges, which mainly include the outcome and fair opportunities of graduates, employment of college students, the social value of higher education, and how to promote more diverse voices and topics. With the rise of the East Asian higher education system, the world’s higher education landscape is undergoing major changes. Countries around the world need to enhance mutual understanding. It is essential to understand their own higher education system and the world’s higher education system through thinking about others.