Exploring the theory in the university admission system
When the key universities own the right of self-determined admission, the primary consideration is which kind of students to be accepted.
An overall view of the application forms will show that American prestigious universities place emphasis on the overall quality of the students. Expect the basic situation of students and their families, universities pay close attention to the academy award, activities, social work, working experience and interests. Hope that through the details in application materials to exam the overall quality of students. For instance, Harvard University very concerned the candidates’ intellectual potentiality, internal drive, maturity, independent, originality, initiative, leadership potentiality, potential for development, special faculties and the spirit of enterprise. Yale University pays more attention to the candidates’ internal drive, originality, intensive and extensive of thinking and the ability of independent thinking. While the Chicago University more prefer the students who can share their ideas with each other, inspire the teachers, independent research, and enjoy the happiness in the classes. (Quanyu Huang, 2003)
According to the research on student’s growth line, Tsinghua University focused on the goal to enroll students with overall quality or innovative talents with specific strong point.
- Overall quality is an important standard in the self-determined admission.
What are the factors of overall quality? For this question, many studies defined it in different ways. Some people may define the overall quality as the all-round development in morality, intelligence, physique and art. Some people define it as someone with lofty ideals, integrity, knowledge and a strong sense of discipline. While we found that the overall quality should be classified in to two different parts, intellectual quality and the quality of non-intelligence. The intellectual quality is particular refer to the thinking, understanding and the ability to solve the problems. And the quality of non-intelligence is the desire to develop, pursue unremittingly, initiative, curiosity, the undaunted challenge of reality, the passion for knowledge, mental toughness and physical constitution. (Wei Zang, UD)
Why we would like to emphasize the overall quality of students? We may understand it in two directions. Firstly, there is a variety of quality and talents shows from the researching of the growth law, however, these kinds of qualities show the mutual constraints and synergy development at the same time independent from each other. Secondly, society needs the overall quality people. Someone with high intelligence but lack of moral education can hardly be a useful member of society. Similarly, if a person is outstanding in both intellectual and moral education but has poor physical fitness may be hampered by illness to make a contribution.
2.Multiple Intelligences is an important indicator in the selection of sponsored-students.
Why we emphasize the overall quality at the same time we emphasize the multiple intelligences and personalize development?
Firstly, the fundamental purpose of education is to promote all-round development of students. Since each person’s hereditary factors and growth environment are dissimilar, human society shows a richly colorful appearance.As the concept tends to open today, value concept, career choices, students’ development and society needs all tends to be multiple intelligences. Each person with expertise collaborate in one team may easier to chalk up good result. Second and the most important reason is that school is a training place and a completed system which like an ecosphere with different species interdependent growing up together. In the survey, many students mentioned that their greatest gain in the university is learning from outstanding like-minded students and they improved together. They open a new window to the world by living with students who have different family background, growing experience, value orientation, and major.
In the June of 2005, we interviewed some students in the 2001 class of basic science. All of them talked about one of their greatest gains in the university. That is they have variety of choices on specific programs after year three, students in the same class will study different modules and participate in different research programs. And consequently have diverse knowledge structures and the way of thinking. They enjoy the great benefit by learning from each other and drawing the strong points of others to offset their own weakness through everyday study and communications. As the result of students has their own strong points, they were very active in the class’s activities and the cohesion of the collective has been strengthened as well.
The foreign key universities’ admission systems seem that they pay great attention to the diversity of students, emphasize that different students can bring fresh air to others and the university. So does the Tsinghua University. For example, Tsinghua University enrolls students of fine arts and students with special physical skills through each year’s winter camp. On the one hand, these students can meet the needs of School Art Troupe and sports teams. Furthermore, as Tsinghua University has always stressed intellectual, moral, physical and aesthetic education combination and students’ overall quality development. As these kinds of students distribute in different colleges and departments, they play an active role on promote building the school culture.
３.In the talents enrollment process focused on the correct treatment of the relationship between common and individual
Society's demand for diversity of qualified person, different occupations, different jobs require personnel with different abilities.? After analyzing the quality of various types of personnel’s, it’s not difficult to detect that they have both personality and commonality. For instance, healthy personality, physical fitness, strong study ability and deep desires to learn are all the basic abilities of Tsinghua Students. However, innovation, imagination, and oral presentation skills are expressed and demanded in different departments. Thus, finding out the personality and commonality in different major and applied them to the admission system has the realistic meaning. In the selection of sponsored students and the self-determined admission system in 2006, Tsinghua University set additional specific interviews to those who apply for English and Japanese major. ?And similarly for the national defense students, examine their determination and aspiration to the course of national defense by setting additional interviews.
Exploring the practice in the university admission system
- Diversified ways of recommendation: high school recommendation combines with self recommendation
Tsinghua University’s sponsored students admission system keep using the high school recommendation combined with self recommendation mode. On the one hand, university generally defines the capable students through their school records. On the other hand finds out some students with characteristic according to their self recommendation.
２.Standardized admission procedure: preliminary trial combines with the winter camp retrial.
Each year, Tsinghua University’s sponsored students’ admission starts in October and ended in January, lasts 4 months. In order to ensure the selection works in a just and fair way, university first uses the preliminary trial combines with the winter camp retrial mode to strict the process. Since 2004, students were suggested to apply and query online in order to improve our working efficiency and service level. To ensure the fair, since 2003 our professors started the preliminary trial with each person’s material was examined by two professors and scored by separate them into different provinces’ classed. According to these results, we decided the candidates for the winter camp’s retrial. ?In the retrial, students will be estimated through tests (60%) and interviews (40%). And university determined the ultimate choices according to the comprehensive results from high to low. The final choices need to be accepted by the admission leading office, recorded by each provinces’ admission office and public the results in high schools which the chosen students in. This strict selecting system stops the student who wants to cheat or rely on lucky.
３.Scientific way of admission(Tsinghua-Yuncol e-portfolio Assessment: TEA program): stage assessment, process evaluation and field evaluation combined.
The evaluation of students is a complicated system. Tsinghua University uses the TEA program combination of stage assessment, process evaluation and field evaluation to improve the admission process efficiency and credible level.
E-Portfolio assessment analysis the students’ high school scores, competition performance and social work performance. High school teachers who get along with students day and night know students’ abilities and potential best. Thus, high school recommendation materials are significantly valuable for the evaluation of students’ performance in high school.
Process evaluation works by holding the TEA Academic Weeks，students communicate with professors, submitting their essays and discussing points and English records on-line. Professors hope to find out the potential and strong point of students, evaluate their creativity and knowledge structure and set up e-portfolio for each of them through this progress. Students who registered the e-portfolio assessment will notice their own strengths and weaknesses by communicate with professors, and they will open their overview through discussing with each other. In this way, to mobilize the students to learn and interest in in-depth thinking, inspirit them to have a multi-angle thinking. So in the first place, participate in it is a learning of innovation. On the other hand, Tsinghua University and Yuncol Lab. will refer to the professors’ recommendation index on participated students to select part of them into the self-determined admission winter camp. First and second year high school students’ e-portfolio will be saved till the end of high school and the outstanding students will be given the chance to take part in the Tsinghua University’s self-determined admission winter camp. In the January of 2004, 10 outstanding students won that chance.
Authentic evaluation is value the students from their winter camp performance, including academic test and interviews. Academic test will test students’ basic knowledge and the ability to apply knowledge. And the interview place more weight on students’ quality of non-intelligence. Field evaluation is a exam and supplementary of another two kind of evaluations above.
４.The humanization of the work: enrollment combined with education
Tsinghua University consistently use the selection combined with education mode, especially in the selecting of sponsored students. Tsinghua University made arrangements of variety of reports and lectures to help the candidacies have a deeper understanding of Tsinghua’s history and culture, impressing them on how to behave and how to work. For some reasons, few students finally were not selected to be sponsored students, they still rewarding and having a worthwhile experience. Some of them confirmed their determination to apply Tsinghua University and finally made their Tsinghua dream came true. And for the students finally choice other universities still learned a lot in the winter camp.
The development trend of Universities’ admission system
- Weaken the role of academic competition in the enrolling process.
Though the academic competition plays a positive role in the talent training process, it’s should not be ignore that since the “sponsored students” policy was reformed in 2001, academic competition’s results can decided whether a student have the right of exemption to the key universities. Thus, some high school students leaving other subjects aside and focusing on one academic competition’s subject in order to get the exemption right. Such a single developing method might be helpful for the admission, however, the consequently over abroad of some other subjects against the development of students and obey the original intention of all-round development. A famous mathematician Chengtong Qiu said: International Mathematical Olympiad does not bring up the mathematician, and conversely it kills the Mathematical geniuses to some extent. (China view, UD)Therefore, we suggest weakening the role of academic competition in the selection process.
２.Combine the sponsored students’ selection with self-determined admission.
As selecting ways, sponsored students’ selection and self-determined admission are both beneficial supplements to the university entry examination system. Though, there is a strict line to select sponsored student, fundamentally speaking, the original purpose of sponsored students’ selection and self-determined admission are the same. That is, chiefly use scores in selection and supplement it with other figures, like the overall development students or students with specific strong point. Thus, in the long run, sponsored students’ selection and self-determined admission should be combined, for example, the student who win the academic prize still need to take the university entrance examination, but enjoy the preferential policy in the admission process.
Selecting advanced capable people is a long time task for universities. ?Explore the Tsinghua University’s multiple intelligences evaluation system is a significant task in admission works. We will complete the selection system in the future work through continuous practice and study.
Reference:
Quanyu Huang, Sep. 2003, < College entrance examination in the United States>, Guangxi Normal University Press
Wei Zhang,<Discussing about American higher education theory and practices>, page 3, Guangxi Normal University master's thesis.
China View, 3rd April 2005, <Mathematician Chengtong Qiu said: International Mathematical Olympiad does not bring up the mathematician> |
