According to our general view, the so-called private school is to make money from students. wrong. A first-class private school invests in students! A first-class university is a super talent investment organization that can turn an unworthy man into a millionaire through this kind of investment.
The reason why American universities are excellent is not because of the high level of top universities, but the American university system is more advanced than any other country’s system. The advantage of this system is that there is no system.
There is no system because the federal government does not make overall plans for higher education. A large amount of research funding in the hands of the federal government is directly applied by university professors and scholars. After the money is received, these professors and scholars will go with them. Research funds for professors, scholarships for students, and donations from universities all need competition. All-round competition has created all-round excellence.
So, what is the content of the competition?
Harvard Business School officially launched a massive fundraising campaign in 2003, with the goal of raising 500 million US dollars. After the results came out, the original goal was greatly exceeded, reaching 600 million U.S. dollars.
Harvard is rich. This is not news. If only a word of money is used, it is not worth our expense here. However, the idea behind this money is worthy of our thinking in our own educational reforms.
I have always criticized the campaign to “build a world-class university” carried out by famous universities like Peking University and Tsinghua University. This is not because the operators keep trying to imitate the American model, but they cut corners when imitating, abandon the most critical link, and learn the most superficial things. What is the biggest difference between world-class universities like Harvard and Yale? They are private and they compete in the market. Looking at the top universities in the United States, they are basically all private. Among them, few state universities, such as the University of Michigan, are increasingly relying on private financial sources rather than state government funding.
So, how do first-class private universities operate? People don’t live by running classes and collecting tuition fees. You must know that although the tuition fees of these private universities are scaryly high, the scholarships are also surprisingly high, especially for poor children, not only waived tuition fees, but also provided living expenses and spent money to invite people to study. A basic idea of American elite education is to give every talented child the opportunity to receive first-class education. Therefore, to rely solely on tuition fees, I dare say that all prestigious universities in the United States will quickly go bankrupt.
If you don’t receive royal food or tuition fees, what does the school rely on for food? Rely on donations! Famous schools have a huge endowment fund, which is the foundation of the school’s strength. So who will donate? Past graduates, alumni, are a major force. Why are alumni so generous? There are two main reasons: First, the alumni are successful in their careers, have made a lot of money, and have the ability to donate money. Second, these alumni spent the best time of their lives when they were studying at school, lingering on the campus, grateful to the school, and succeeding in the future, and honor their own school as filial to their parents.
According to this logic, you will understand what the top universities in the United States are competing with each other. Their competition is actually product competition, not education hardware competition. What they want to compare is: Who trains graduates to be more successful in the future? Whose education has left a permanent mark on the hearts of students and laid the foundation for their life’s career and life? You can find out when you go to various prestigious schools. The school is as considerate to students as parents are to their own children. Can the students who are trained in this way have no prospects in the future? Can they not come back to the “honor” school after they have made good? Let’s
look at how the 600 million dollars will be spent after they are handed: 114 million will be spent on student scholarships; 10.2 million Spending on hiring professors; 12.5.3 million for the construction of technical infrastructure; 127.5 million for global research and international exchanges; 85.7 million for campus renovation. There are also more than 60 million mobile funds. Scholarships to students accounted for nearly one-fifth of the total amount.
According to our general view, the so-called private school is to make money from students. wrong. A first-class private school invests in students! A first-class university is a super talent investment organization that can turn an innocent man into a millionaire through this kind of investment.
Our university uses the money to build a building. It doesn’t count how many scholarships a building is for students. The school is very clear: students come and go, and ultimately are not the school’s assets. The building is to stay there forever. What’s more, it is charging students indiscriminately. The students feel that they have been skinned before they graduate. Can you expect such students to come back to honor the school after success? And look at people, every famous school, and always regard students as their most precious asset. Only such a university is truly a first-class university.
