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.

With the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools in academic writing, the impact on postgraduate students in China warrants attention. An analysis of survey data from 14 817 postgraduates reveals that doctoral students have a stronger demand for using AIGC tools to assist in academic writing compared to master’s students. Postgraduates from “Double First-Class” construction universities, those studying in engineering, higher academic years, and those with extrinsic motivations for pursuing studies or perceiving a strong utilitarian publication atmosphere among peers are more likely to use AIGC tools for writing assistance. Postgraduates primarily utilize AIGC tools to assist in searching for materials related to their research topics and translating/refining the language expression in their papers. Postgraduates who use AIGC tools for coursework, translation, or refinement are more likely to recognize the positive impact of these tools on their research efficiency, but their use in research design may hinder the development of academic writing skills. Based on these findings, it is recommended that universities improve academic evaluation standards, and strengthen the development of academic ethical norms and usage skill training for AIGC tools.

The ongoing statistical analysis and tracking of academic hotspots in higher education research papers over the past 20 years provide crucial support and reference for accelerating the high-quality development of higher education. A study on 23 of the most influential education journals reveals an imbalance in the output of higher education research papers among different types of institutions. Public undergraduate universities dominate as the main contributors, with a significant proportion of publications coming from “Double First-Class”construction universities. High-contribution institutions account for a large share, while other types of institutions show low participation. Meanwhile, diverse institutions such as education administrative departments, educational research institutions, and overseas institutions are actively engaged in higher education research, demonstrating strong openness and integration.Based on keyword frequency analysis and expert opinions, the top ten academic hotspots in higher education research for this year have been identified. An analysis and assessment of their research progress, key viewpoints, and trends have been conducted.

Based on a survey of university teachers from undergraduate universities across the nation, this study adopts latent profile analysis to investigate the typological characteristics, work performance, and intervention strategies related to job burnout among university teachers in China. The results reveal four latent types of job burnout: low burnout (62.1%), relatively high burnout (27.1%), low sense of achievement (5.8%), and exhaustion(5.0%). Among these, teachers with low burnout demonstrate the best work performance, followed by those with a low sense of achievement, while those categorized as exhausted and relatively high burnout exhibit poorer performance. Organizational emotional support, organizational instrumental support, research pressure, teaching pressure, and the pressure of balancing teaching and research significantly predict different types of teacher burnout. Universities should provide tailored organizational support for teachers of various burnout types, reform teacher evaluation systems to enhance the sense of achievement in teaching, and improve the classification management system to alleviate the pressure of balancing teaching and research.

STEM education is the fundamental way to cultivate innovative talents, and its importance is further amplified in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As a core driving force for shaping new productive capacities, AI is currently empowering the integration of science and education through disruptive technologies. The essence of AI’s role in empowering STEM education lies in creating new scenarios and developing innovative applications. Currently, six new scenarios—gamified learning, socialized learning, collaborative learning, self-directed learning, problem-driven learning, and project-based inquiry learning—have been created. Furthermore, five major categories of large model applications, including evaluation, management, teaching, classroom learning, and extracurricular learning have been developed. The convergence of STEM education and AI aligns with the inherent cycle of “observing phenomena, identifying problems, asking questions, and solving problems”. Ultimately, the success of this integration depends on teachers. The empowerment of artificial intelligence enables the new IQ of human-machine collaboration to surpass the limitations of human IQ itself.

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.

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.

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.

Exploring the cultivation models for top-notch innovative talents in basic academic disciplines is crucial for building China into a leading country in education. Based on the policy implementation process model, the study interviewed 25 students and found that: contradictions arise during policy implementation, including the difficulty in aligning standardized national exams with autonomous enrollment of universities, the conflict between diverse talent needs and homogenized training plans, and the deviation of through-training target and single talent export. At the institutional level, the education department’s evaluation system is misaligned, and pilot universities face challenges like goal convergence, selection deviating from initial intentions, and fragmented internal management. Colleges also suffer from weak management, insufficient guidance, and unequal resource distribution. In terms of the implementation environment, factors such as intensified academic competition, incomplete supervision, variations in levels of family support, and negative media reports hinder policy effectiveness. Among students, shifts in academic interests, pursuit of prestigious schools, mismatch between students’ motivation and capabilities, and disconnection between competition and non-competition students are observed. It is recommended to enhance the clarity and scientific basis of the policy, improve institutional implementation capacity, optimize the policy environment, establish a feedback mechanism, and strengthen students’ understanding and acceptance of the policy.

Qian Xuesen’s “Metasynthetic Wisdom Educational Thought” blends the East and the West, the antiquity and the modernity in the concepts of talent cultivation, the practices of the teaching process, and the spirit of education and teaching. It has commonality in the kernel, consistency in the logic, and relevance in the value with the construction of ideological and political education in curriculum in the theory, practice and goal, and has crucial reference significance and value for implementing the fundamental task of enhancing morality and fostering talents. Therefore, in the new era, we can refer to the theoretical essence of “Metasynthetic Wisdom Educational Thought” to cultivate the comprehensive quality of students, firm up the value orientation of education, and guide teachers to cultivate their moral characters, to further promote the construction of ideological and political education in curriculum in the new era.

Family background is the most important factor for students to make decisions on higher education. If families with relative advantages tend to choose the “Pilot Reform Program of Enrollment for Fundamental Disciplines”(PRPEFD) in order to attend elite universities, the selection effectiveness of PRPEFD is likely to be weakened. Based on the survey data which Graduate School of Education in Peking University held in the investigation of national college students’ development, this paper studies the relationship between students’ family background and their motivation for choosing PRPEFD. It is found that although the proportion of PRPEFD students taking major interest as their choice motivation is higher than that of utilitarian motivation for chasing elite universities, and there is no significant correlation between family background and major interest motivation, compared with families with relative disadvantages, PRPEFD students from families with relative advantages are more keen to chase elite universities. This preference for elite universities is mainly reflected in the student groups who come from relatively developed regions. Advocating the family relationship of “respecting and supporting children” and giving students sufficient information support will help reduce the utilitarian motivation of families with relative advantages to pursue elite universities, and help encourage the major-related interest motivation.

Since the 25th anniversary of Macao’s return to China, significant achievements have been made in higher education, with six private non-profit universities playing a crucial role. Currently, these private non-profit universities have seen remarkable expansion in their teaching scale, continuous improvement in teaching quality, substantial research output, gradual enhancement in internationalization, and rising international rankings. Their services to Macao and regional development have proven effective. The achievements of private non-profit universities epitomize the development of higher education in Macao. Their success is largely attributed to the effective implementation of educational governance under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework. By leveraging the unique advantages offered by the Special Administrative Region, these universities have consistently enhanced the quality of higher education of Ma, creating a miracle in the history of private higher education.

Higher education should fully leverage its function as a gathering point and important connecting point for educational and technological talents, and promote the cultivation of scientific and technological talents through structural optimization. Optimize the disciplinary structure and enhance the ability to cultivate talents in science and engineering. Optimize the hierarchical structure, improve the training level of graduate students in science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine, and strengthen the training of professional graduate students, especially professional doctoral students. Optimize the type structure and expand the scale of scientific and technological talents cultivation in universities under the “Double First-Class” construction. Optimize the regional layout structure, establish a technology talent training system that is compatible with the science and technology innovation cluster, and meet the development needs of the world’s important talent centers and innovation highlands.

Joint university-enterprise training is an important way to strengthen the cooperative relationship between universities and industries, which occupies an important position in the national innovation system and education system. On the basis of reviewing the history of cooperative education in the United States, analyzing the needs of industrial development and sorting out its government-industry-academia-research system, we have extracted three types of joint university-enterprise doctoral programs in the United States from the perspective of the cultivation subject, namely government-led, university-led and enterprise (industry) association-led, and summarized three types of cultivation modes from the perspective of the cultivation program, namely, synergistic, collaborative and segmented. In general, the U.S. focuses on key industrial fields, relies on industrial research centers and major scientific and technological platforms, and introduces policies and norms to guarantee the effective operation of joint doctoral training programs through multi-channel and sustainable funding sources. Drawing on the experience of the U.S. joint doctoral training programs, it is recommended to promote the close integration of the joint training programs with the national demand, strengthen the flexibility and standardization of the joint training programs, and stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises to participate in the joint training programs, so as to comprehensively improve the quality and effectiveness of the joint training of doctoral students in China.

Accelerating the transformation of scientific and technological (S&T) achievements in universities and deepening enterprise-led industry-university research cooperation are important measures to promote comprehensive reform of higher education. From the perspective of university governance, the research responsibilities of universities play a role in promoting the improvement of teaching level, influencing the construction of the teaching staff, and promoting the development of disciplinary construction. Significant achievements have been made in the transformation of S&T achievements in universities, but there are still issues that need to be strengthened in terms of attention, adjusted guiding ideology, improved patent system, deepened industry academia research cooperation, and improved professionalization level of intermediary institutions. Taking organized scientific research as the starting point to cultivate high-level talents; taking market demand as the guided, promoting the transformation of S&T achievements into new quality productivity; taking high-quality development as the goal, optimizing the patent system; taking innovative culture as the guide, improving incentive systems, and deepening industry academia research cooperation with enterprises as the main body are effective ways to accelerate the transformation of S&T achievements in universities.

Promoting academic entrepreneurship is of great significance to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity. Through the survey and analysis of 331 engineering teachers from “Double First-Class” construction universities, it was found that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentive (economic remuneration, feedback research, career development) positively affect academic entrepreneurship intentions; Faculty role identity fully mediated the relationship between career development and academic entrepreneurship intentions, and it partially mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation, economic rewards, research support and entrepreneurship intentions. The organizational support have an obvious negative adjustment effect on the relationship between economic rewards and academic entrepreneurship intentions. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the effects of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentive on the efficiency of academic entrepreneurship are different in entrepreneurship forms and career development stages. It is recommended that university administrators should cultivate entrepreneurial culture to promote the role identity of entrepreneurship, formulate differentiated incentive policies according to different academic entrepreneurship forms and career development stages, and make dynamic adjustments according to the changes in the organizational environment.

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the setting of a doctoral degree training model in China, comprehensively understanding the historical process, internal mechanism and development direction of its reform is of great significance for promoting the high-quality development of professional degree in education doctors. Based on the theory of institutional changes, the analysis framework for the reform of the professional degree training model of the doctoral degree in education in China has been constructed. It is believed that the professional degree training model of the doctoral degree in education in China has gone through three periods: brewing, pilot implementation, and comprehensive promotion. In the process, it follows a specific reform mechanism. Although this mechanism has its advantages, it has encountered difficulties at this stage: the positions of the three subjects need to be further rational, the degree of coercion and induction needs to be further improved, and the path dependence of the path needs to be further breakthrough. Looking forward to the future, the three subjects need to be in their positions to consolidate the maximum joint force of reform. We must not only enhance the compulsory force of mandatory reforms, but also improve the inductive reform of inducement reform; adhere to the continuous gradual reform and promote breakthroughs in key areas.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the governance of higher education has roughly gone through three paths: direct government management (1949-1997), partial empowerment management (1998-2011), and exploration of collaborative governance (2012 present). Entering the era of artificial intelligence, the existing governance paths of higher education in China have shown signs of difficulty. Currently, there are still realistic dilemmas such as a weak sense of government boundaries, low social participation, higher education reform’s habit of self-referential institutional logic, the need for further clarification of role positioning, and lagging construction of governance rules and methods. In view of this, it is proposed to embed the “technological governance path” into the existing higher education governance mechanism, enabling higher education governance to move from “hierarchically fragmented and segmentary division” to “integrated operation based on digital space”, from “reactive governance” to “predictive governance”, and from “fuzzy decision-making based on experience” to “precise decision-making driven by data”. At the same time, to avoid adverse effects of artificial intelligence empowerment on higher education governance, it is suggested to establish a higher education governance concept that emphasizes both technology and humanity, build a governance foundation that takes into account both materiality and normativity, and implement a governance model that combines openness and security.

The empowering potential contained in emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence is driving universities in their era to prioritize improving their governance intelligence as an important task for their future development. The combination of administrative actions and algorithms is driving algorithmic administration in university governance practice, and the algorithmic power demonstrated by it exhibits characteristics such as relationality, technicality, structural nature, and secrecy in the governance process. In the process of digital and intelligent governance in universities, phenomena such as changes and imbalances in the “power rights” empowerment/enabling structure, adjustments and dissolution the legitimate of governance due process triggered by technological simplism, and the formation and dilemma of technological/digital bureaucracy have emerged. To stimulate the governance effectiveness of algorithmic administration in universities, it is necessary to highlight the transformation from information technology popularization to the application of digital intelligence in the governance concept, highlight the incremental logic of algorithmic administration in university digital governance, and achieve the coordinated promotion of power expansion and rights protection in governance actions.

The due process system of the Academic Degrees Law has reversed the pattern of degree legislation that emphasizes substance over procedure, providing a bottom line guarantee for student rights, regulating the degree management power of universities, and providing judicial guidance for courts. The process content of this system is not yet sound, and there is no attention paid to the difference between not granting degrees and revoking degrees. The clarity of some rules needs to be improved. The improvement of the due process system in the Academic Degrees Law includes three aspects. Firstly, mechanisms such as hearing, recusal, and peer review should be introduced to improve the process content of due process. Secondly, setting stricter voting standards and revocation periods for degree revocation to avoid the negative impact that illegal degree revocation may bring to society. Finally, to enhance the clarity of the rules, including the acceptance of academic review and degree review should adopt the standard of formal review or unconditional acceptance. The degree evaluation committee and the student appeal handling committee should be respectively treated as the processing departments for the two types of review, clarifying the ultimate effectiveness of the two types of review decisions within the school, and making the review process to be the prerequisite for administrative review and administrative litigation.

As higher education becomes more accessible, an increasing number of first-generation college students from rural families are pursuing higher studies. This presents new opportunities and challenges for understanding the development paths of college students. This study delves into the post-graduation choices of first-generation undergraduates from rural families by analyzing employment survey data from bachelor’s degree recipients at key universities in Jiangsu Province. Utilizing the nested logit model and multinomial logit model, the study reveals that the choices of these graduates are not only influenced by their family’s socioeconomic status, but also by macro factors such as postgraduate opportunities, education quality, and employment opportunities. Furthermore, through counterfactual simulations, the study demonstrates that first-generation undergraduates from rural families are particularly sensitive to changes in postgraduate opportunities, education quality, employment prospects, and family economic circumstances compared to other college graduate groups.

Significant achievements have been made in commercializing scientific and technological (S&T) achievements in Chinese universities. However, on the incentive mechanism, it needs to be seriously summarized in the experience and practices of reform and innovation, so as to further improve relevant policies, and accelerate the reform of three systems, such as individual column management of the transformation of service S&T advances, the evaluation of technology transfer talents and professional titles, and the investment of residual funds from horizontal scientific research projects for the transformation of S&T advances. The incentive mechanism reform of S&T advances transformation should be further people-oriented, such as asset management should pay more attention to the special characteristics of intangible assets by S&T advances, evaluation reform should further strengthen categorized assessment, horizontal research funding reform should further expand the autonomy of S&T personnel, and comprehensive reform of universities should further unclog blockages of incentive mechanism, so as to effectively solve the problems of some universities and their accomplisher of S&T advances being afraid to transfer, unwilling to transfer, and lacking funds to transfer.

Humanities and social sciences education has drawn attention from various interest groups, with the issue of “too many humanities and social sciences undergraduates” becoming a point of debate. Behind this controversy lies the reality of difficult employment and low returns for the undergraduates. Comparative studies across countries reveal that the core issue is structural rather than one of scale, reflecting inadequate internal planning of programs and a mismatch between educational goals and market demands. Therefore, nations should clarify the development of humanities and social sciences disciplines and balance academic structures. Enterprises need to comprehensively assess the competence of humanities and social sciences students and strengthen ties with humanities and social sciences education. Universities should focus on cultivating core competencies, deepening educational reform in the new liberal arts. Individuals should understand and respect disciplinary differences. To promote multiple entities collaborate for the high quality development of the humanities and social sciences education.

Collaborative teacher education development is important for improving the quality of teacher education in weak institutions. Some studies have explored the ideal model of collaborative teacher education development based on ecological systems theory and actor-network theory, and found that heterogeneous subjects and negotiation of interests are essential. In contrast, the recently adopted “group model” points to the homogeneity of subjects and the unidirectional nature of benefit export, which are distant from the desirable state of collaborative development and may limit the scope of helping subjects and affect the willingness of helpers to continue to participate. In order to change the current situation, this paper proposes to expand the scope of subjects and promote efficient interaction among them with the “expanded data ecology”, which can adapt to the higher requirements of “new normal construction” for teachers’ literacy. In order to implement the new vision of “expanded data ecology”, the data network can be expanded based on dynamic matching and conditional reciprocity; the cognition can be continuously expanded based on collaborative tracking data; the guarantee system is constantly updated based on the real-time data of collaborative quality improvement.

Good learning adaptability is an important prerequisite for college students to successfully achieve the goal of role change and efficient learning. The implementation of selective subjects in the new college entrance examination brings challenges to the matching degree of knowledge structure and professional learning of the students. It is necessary to study the learning adaptability and its influencing factors of the new college entrance examination students, and then propose countermeasure. The result shows that the learning adaptability of the new college entrance examination students are generally good, and the scores of the five dimensions from high to low are cognition and learning ability, professional identity, learning engagement, learning strategies, curriculum and teaching arrangement. There are differences in new college entrance examination students’ learning adaptability before and after the reform and in different grades and combinations of selective subjects. Students’ family background, student development guidance, the effect of college entrance examination reform and other aspects have a significant impact on the new college entrance examination students’ learning adaptability.

Article 37 of the Degree Law belongs to a relatively rare dual procedure composite requirement provision, which stipulates both the statutory circumstances for not granting degrees and the statutory circumstances for revoking degrees. However, based on the differences in the nature of granting and revoking degrees, the dual procedure composite requirement provision should be interpreted through two paths. On the one hand, the overlapping elements of revoking degrees and not granting degrees should be clearly defined, and academic misconduct in thesis or practical achievements is an academic overlapping element of the two. Illegal acquisition of admission qualifications, illegal acquisition of graduation certificates, and “other serious illegal acts” are overlapping non academic elements of the two. On the other hand, it is even more important to clarify the substantive separation requirements between revoking degrees and not granting degrees. Revoking degrees is a special corrective action, and other academic misconduct, lack of academic ethical requirements, and improper academic review by the granting unit cannot be used as substantive reasons for revoking degrees, in order to distinguish it from not granting degrees.

The main dilemma of the current evaluation of teacher ethics in colleges and universities lies in the lack of holistic, simplicity in process and lack of humanity on evaluation indicators. The reasons for this situation are including insufficient studies on the connotation of teacher ethics and morality, and the need to improve the research on comprehensive evaluation indexes (CEI). Based on a series of documents, this study proposes a comprehensive evaluation index of teacher ethics in universities. It is the first time to proposes the “elemental indexes” that need to be available in the process of teacher ethics construction in universities, which include “structural elements”, “enabling elements”, “transversal elements”, and “cultural elements”, which makes up for the fact that the previous evaluation indicators of teacher ethics in universities borrowed from policy documents and failed to play the role of value leadership and scientific evaluation. At present, this CEI has been initially utilized in the self-assessment of some universities and the questionnaire research tools of external mutual evaluation.

Promoting the deepening application of artificial intelligence in university teaching is a crucial issue facing the digital transformation of higher education in China today, and it urgently needs to be explored in depth. Based on this, the study adopts a perspective shifting from “AI exclusion” to “AI empowerment”. By clarifying the concepts of “AI exclusion” and “AI empowerment”, it reveals that “AI exclusion” specifically manifests as ideological exclusion, institutional exclusion, organizational exclusion, and knowledge exclusion. These forms of exclusion follow diverse generative logics rooted in cognitive ideologies, policy systems, organizational structures, and knowledge transmission. In response to the real dilemma of “AI exclusion”, these orientations promote paradigmatic innovation across four dimensions: ideology, institutions, organizations, and knowledge. To eliminate “exclusion” and achieve “empowerment”, this study proposes a four-in-one integrated action pathway: “innovative theory + institutional establishment + organizational regeneration + contextual transformation”, aiming to deepen the application of artificial intelligence in university.

In order to promote faculties’ teaching engagement, governments and universities have invested many resources, but the substantive impacts of them remains to be evaluated. Based on conservation of resource theory, this study explores various resources on teachers’ engagement. Findings show that at the university level, library resources and subjective perception of teaching support have a positive impact on teacher engagement, with the latter having a stronger effect; being a “Double First-Class” construction university negatively affects teacher engagement; the impact of spatial and financial resources on teacher engagement is not significant. At the individual level, faculties’ sense of teaching efficacy positively influences teacher engagement. Finally, at the cross-level, there is a substitution effect between college library resources and faculties’ teaching self-efficacy, where library resources can more effectively compensate for low efficacy, thereby promoting greater teaching engagement.

Modernization of higher education governance is an important component of national governance modernization, and it is a necessary way to promote the construction of a strong higher education country and the process of Chinese modernization. On the basis of interpreting the connotation of Chinese modernization and its characteristics, the thesis discusses the logical relationship between the modernization of higher education governance and its urgency in Chinese modernization, answers the purpose of the modernization of higher education governance, its main body and its options for action, and explores the path of action for the reform of university governance based on the purpose of governance modernization.

Higher education faces numerous challenges in the digital era. The entire process of talent cultivation, including its objectives, methodologies, evaluation, and employment outcomes, is confronted with significant hurdles. Scientific research encounters challenges in paradigm integration and organizational transformation. Social service provision faces challenges related to openness and innovation. Digital transformation emerges as a crucial pathway to address these challenges. From a spatial perspective, the digital transformation of higher education will create a vast integrated space, encompassing three interrelated sub-spaces: a virtual-real fusion space merging virtual and real environments, an open and interconnected space interweaving fluid and local spaces, and a data-intelligent convergence space integrating data and intelligent domains. This integrated space in higher education will present a novel future landscape: talent cultivation will generate new models and ecosystems; scientific research will achieve organizational reform and paradigm upgrades; and social services will promote universal learning and collaborative innovation. To realize this integrated space in higher education, it is necessary to reconstruct “spatial practices”, innovate “representations of space”, cultivate “representational spaces”, and enhance human-machine integrated governance.

Higher education in developing countries has obvious advantages in development consciousness, resource networks and institutional innovations. In the midst of a new technological revolution, the construction and development of modern Chinese universities not only have universal backward advantages, but also show distinct Chinese characteristics in organization and system, society and ecology, culture and academic tradition. How to respond to the digital wave, seize the first opportunity in the future with digital thinking and digital technology, reform the mode of Chinese universities, and extend and reconstruct the backward advantages of leapfrog development are important issues of the times. In recent years, Zhejiang University has taken digital reform as the main line of practice to comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of talent training, the vitality of scientific research and innovation, the depth of cultural inheritance and innovation and the level of university intellectual governance. These measures provide wisdom and solutions of Zhejiang University for Chinese universities to move to the forefront of world-class universities with greater backward advantages.

Based on survey data from national educational doctoral training institutions, this study analyzes the impact mechanisms of different learning motivations on the academic achievements of educational doctoral students. The results show that the impact mechanisms of different learning motivations on academic achievement vary; academic interest motivation enhances ability development and learning satisfaction, while utilitarian orientation facilitates degree completion, with learning engagement playing a crucial role. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the factors influencing the two types of motivations. Academic interest motivation is more influenced by intrinsic factors such as academic atmosphere, mentor guidance, and curriculum teaching, while utilitarian motivation is more influenced by extrinsic factors like peer assistance and academic management. The study also found that the learning motivations of educational doctoral students have a clear practical orientation, not just knowledge accumulation and paper publication, which is in line with the original purpose of establishing the degree. Therefore, universities should optimize institutional arrangements, clarify the professional positioning and training objectives of educational doctoral programs, emphasize the applicability, practicality, and innovation, create a favorable environment, adjust and optimize learning motivations, and stimulate learning engagement.

The training of top-notch innovative talents in China is mostly promoted in the way of special plans, reflecting the typical characteristics of the project system. The recruitment selection, organizational form, governance mechanism and development path follow the project system “selecting the best”“special office”“project system-bureaucracy system” dual-track interaction and the logic of “pilot-promotion” respectively. In the new period, the operation of the project system of training top-notch innovative talents in China faces the tension between the logic of “selecting the best” and the pursuit of fairness and human nature; the logic of “specialized office” and the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents emphasize the tension of openness; the “dual-track interaction” logic and the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents emphasize the tension of fully releasing the independent vitality of colleges and universities; the tension between the logic of “pilot-promotion” and the long-term and holistic characteristics of top-notch innovative talent training. In view of this, in the future, it is necessary to establish a fair and people-oriented cultivation concept of top-notch innovative talents, create a relaxed cultivation ecology conducive to the personalized development of talents, release the independent vitality of colleges and universities in the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents, and establish a long-term overall coordination and connection of top-notch innovative talents training system.

With the wide application of artificial intelligence technology, the gap in the demand for artificial intelligence rule of law talents is bound to further expand. AI empowerment, education takes the lead. Examining the specific practice of cultivating AI rule of law talents in China’s law schools and colleges, there are mainly four aspects, such as new disciplinary directions, new curriculum system, new specialized institutions, and new degree programs, etc. At the same time, there are also problems such as inconsistency in the title of the relevant disciplines, lack of clarity in the objectives of the curriculum, lack of depth in the implementation of the degree program, and instability in the operation of the newly established virtual scientific research institutions. These problems will lead to the supply of AI rule of law talents in China’s law schools to meet the needs of the times. In view of this, China’s law schools need to unify the“law + artificial intelligence” related secondary discipline title - “artificial intelligence jurisprudence”, according to the“technology-based”“artificial intelligence”. According to the different cultivation objectives of “technical” and “regulatory”, the curriculum system should be reconstructed, the undergraduate degree program should be implemented in conjunction with postgraduate education, and a collaborative cultivation platform should be set up, so as to cultivate AI rule of law talents to meet the needs of the times.

Intensive counseling activities, centered around one-on-one conversation between undergraduates college counselors, serve as an innovative approach for assisting high-achieving low-income undergraduates’adaptation college life, eliminating potential inequality in educational process and outcome. Focusing on intensive counseling activities within the “Yanyuan Qihang Program” of the Student Financial Aid Center at Peking University, this paper investigates the impact of these activities on the development of high-achieving low-income undergraduates, as well as the role of counselors. Based on self-authorship theory and learning partnership model, quantitative analysis finds that intensive counseling significantly enhances students’general and professional abilities. Qualitative analysis reveals that “seeing”, “empathizing”, and “giving a man a fish and teaching him how to fish” are the three major strategies for counselors in conducting intensive counseling. During the intensive counseling process, counselors have transformed from supervisors and managers to companions and supporters, and students have transformed from “dependence” to “autonomy”. Universities shall enhance their external support system for intensive counseling, in order to maximize the impact of non-financial support for high-achieving low-income undergraduates.