Empowering University Education with a Strong Ideological and Political Guiding Force

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the 2024 National Education Conference: “The education powerhouse we aim to build is a socialist education powerhouse with Chinese characteristics, which should possess a strong ideological and political guiding force, talent competitiveness, scientific and technological support, livelihood security, social synergy, and international influence.” Among these, the ideological and political guiding force ranks first, profoundly reflecting the “lifeline” status of ideological and political work in building an education powerhouse. As the main front for carrying out the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education [n1], universities forging a strong ideological and political guiding force is of decisive significance for constructing a university education ecosystem in the New Era and serving the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. Against the backdrop of accelerating changes unseen in a century, universities should proactively build an ideological and political work system that resonates with the times, empathizes with youth, and connects with practice, continuously enhancing the ideological and political guiding force to provide a solid ideological guarantee and profound spiritual support for cultivating new generations capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation.

习近平总书记在2024年全国教育大会上强调：“我们要建成的教育强国，是中国特色社会主义教育强国，应当具有强大的思政引领力、人才竞争力、科技支撑力、民生保障力、社会协同力、国际影响力。”其中，思政引领力居首，深刻体现了思想政治工作在教育强国建设中的“生命线”地位。高校作为落实立德树人根本任务的主阵地，锻造强大的思政引领力，对于构建新时代高校育人生态、服务强国建设和民族复兴伟业，具有举足轻重的意义。在世界百年未有之大变局加速演进的时代背景下，高校应主动构建起与时代同频、与青年共情、与实践贯通的思政工作体系，不断提升思政引领力，为培养担当民族复兴重任的时代新人提供坚强思想保证和深厚精神支撑。

Grasping the Profound Connotation of the Ideological and Political Guiding Force

把握思政引领力的深刻内涵

Inheriting the Party’s Fine Traditions. Ideological and political work is a distinctive feature and political advantage of the Party, consistently playing an important role in rallying people’s hearts, inspiring fighting spirit, unifying will, and strengthening conviction. In the long-term practice of revolution, construction, and reform, our Party has highly valued and continuously developed and improved ideological and political work, emphasizing at every historical stage that ideological and political work is the “lifeline of all work.” Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has put forward a series of new judgments and new requirements for ideological and political work, deploying it from the strategic overall perspective. The proposal of the ideological and political guiding force is a systematic summary and innovative development of the Party’s tradition of ideological and political work, and is of great significance for enhancing the strategic focus and political function of universities in fostering virtue through education.

传承党的优良传统。思想政治工作是党的鲜明特色和政治优势，始终发挥着凝聚人心、激励斗志、统一意志、坚定信念的重要作用。在长期的革命、建设、改革实践中，我们党高度重视并不断发展完善思想政治工作，在各个历史阶段都强调思想政治工作是“一切工作的生命线”。进入新时代，以习近平同志为核心的党中央对思想政治工作提出一系列新论断、新要求，从战略全局高度予以部署。思政引领力的提出，是对党的思想政治工作传统的系统总结与创新发展，对于增强高校立德树人的战略定力与政治功能具有重大意义。

Manifesting the Essential Requirements of Education. Education has distinct political, people-centered, and strategic attributes. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly elucidated the “three major attributes” of education at the 2024 National Education Conference, which is a major theoretical innovation in our Party’s understanding of the essential laws of education. The ideological and political guiding force being further established as one of the core capabilities for building an education powerhouse not only reflects the political requirement that education must adhere to the socialist direction of running schools but also emphasizes the fundamental task of shaping values throughout the entire process of education. As the front-line position of ideological work, universities must consciously integrate the ideological and political guiding force throughout the entire process of talent cultivation. By strengthening theoretical cultivation, deepening value identification, and nurturing an educational ecosystem, they should promote the comprehensive development and healthy growth of students, cultivating new generations capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation.

彰显教育的本质要求。教育具有鲜明的政治属性、人民属性和战略属性。习近平总书记在2024年全国教育大会上深刻阐明了教育的“三大属性”，这是我们党对教育本质规律认识的重大理论创新。思政引领力被进一步确立为建设教育强国的核心能力之一，既体现了教育必须坚持社会主义办学方向的政治要求，也强调了在教育全过程塑造价值观的根本任务。高校作为意识形态工作的前沿阵地，必须自觉将思政引领力贯穿人才培养全过程，通过强化理论涵养、厚植价值认同、营造育人生态，推动学生全面发展、健康成长，培养堪当民族复兴重任的时代新人。

Responding to the Needs of the Times. The world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and the tasks of China’s education reform and development in the New Era are arduous and the mission is formidable. As the first of the “six major characteristics” of an education powerhouse, the ideological and political guiding force embodies the essential requirements of building an education powerhouse and will inevitably become an important force guiding teachers and students to jointly build an education powerhouse and realize the great cause of national rejuvenation. For universities to forge a strong ideological and political guiding force means, through the systematic restructuring of institutions and mechanisms, the deep integration of curriculum systems, and the coordinated advancement of campus culture, to continuously deepen the coupling and interaction between ideological and political education and disciplinary education, knowledge education, and ability education, promoting the formation of a multi-dimensional, coordinated, internally and externally linked, and three-dimensionally integrated new pattern of university education in the New Era, gradually consolidating the deep-seated forces driving social progress and epochal change.

回应时代之需。当今世界正经历百年未有之大变局，新时代中国教育改革发展任务繁重、使命艰巨。思政引领力作为教育强国“六大特质”之首，体现了教育强国建设的本质要求，必将成为引领师生同心共筑教育强国和实现民族复兴伟业的重要力量。高校锻造强大的思政引领力，就是通过体制机制的系统重构、课程体系的深度融合、校园文化的协同推进，持续深化思想政治教育与学科教育、知识教育、能力教育的耦合互动，推动形成多维协同、内外联动、立体融合的新时代高校育人新格局，逐步凝聚起推动社会进步和时代变革的深层力量。

The Important Role of a Strong Ideological and Political Guiding Force in the University Education System

强大思政引领力在高校育人体系中的重要作用

Providing Core Support for Fostering Virtue through Education. Fostering virtue through education is the fundamental task of socialist universities and the mission entrusted to universities by the Party in the New Era. Forging a strong ideological and political guiding force can provide strong political guarantees, theoretical support, and spiritual momentum for universities to achieve this fundamental task. Through systematic and in-depth ideological and political education, students are guided to establish a Marxist worldview, outlook on life, and value system, deeply understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments [n2], enhance the Four Consciousnesses [n3], strengthen the Four Confidences [n4], and achieve the Two Upholds [n5], continuously improving students’ sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit, and practical ability, promoting their comprehensive development and healthy growth, and truly realizing the fundamental transformation of higher education from knowledge indoctrination to value shaping.

为立德树人提供核心支撑。立德树人是社会主义大学的根本任务，是党赋予高校的时代使命。锻造强大的思政引领力，能够为高校实现这一根本任务提供强有力的政治保障、理论支撑与精神动能。通过系统深入的思想政治教育，引导学生树立马克思主义的世界观、人生观、价值观，深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，不断提升学生的社会责任感、创新精神与实践能力，推动学生全面发展、健康成长，真正实现高等教育从知识灌输向价值塑造的根本转变。

Ensuring the Correct Direction of Education. Universities have always been an important front for the Party’s ideological work. Strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over universities is the fundamental guarantee for running socialist universities with Chinese characteristics. A strong ideological and political guiding force is an important manifestation of the Party’s leadership being implemented and realized in the university education system, and an important content of the deep integration of Party building and ideological and political work in universities in the New Era. By promoting the ideological and political guiding force with high quality, it can ensure that universities consistently adhere to the socialist direction of running schools, implement the Party’s educational policies and guidelines, and integrate the Party’s overall leadership over the education cause throughout the entire process and all aspects of running schools, managing education, teaching, and nurturing people, thereby cultivating generation after generation of new generations with firm ideals and convictions, excellent political quality, and a determination to tirelessly strive for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

确保正确的育人方向。高校始终是党的意识形态工作的重要阵地，加强党对高校的全面领导，是办好中国特色社会主义大学的根本保证。强大的思政引领力是党的领导在高校教育体系中得以贯彻落实的重要体现，是新时代高校党的建设与思想政治工作深度融合的重要内容。通过高质量推进思政引领，能够确保高校始终坚持社会主义办学方向，贯彻党的教育方针政策，将党对教育事业的全面领导贯穿办学治校、教书育人全过程各方面，从而培养出一代又一代理想信念坚定、政治素质过硬、立志为中国特色社会主义事业不懈奋斗的时代新人。

Broadening Channels for Value Guidance. Courses are the key carrier of university education, and classrooms are the main front for fostering virtue through education. By strengthening ideological and political education throughout the entire process and all dimensions of curriculum system construction and classroom reform, universities also broaden the channels for value guidance while enhancing the ideological and political guiding force. On the one hand, continuously deepen the reform and innovation of ideological and political theory courses, promote the Party’s innovative theories “entering textbooks, entering classrooms, and entering minds,” guide students to deeply understand the epochal significance and practical power of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and enhance the ideological penetrating power and spiritual guiding force of scientific theory. On the other hand, deeply advance the construction of ideological and political education in all courses. Relying on the university’s disciplinary background, effectively explore the ideological and political elements within professional courses, achieving the same direction and coordinated education of all courses with ideological and political courses. In addition, the practical education function of the second classroom should be fully utilized, creating a three-dimensional education space with social practice, volunteer service, campus culture, etc., as carriers, allowing young students to enhance their political identity and action consciousness while personally experiencing the great transformations of the New Era.

拓宽价值引领渠道。课程是高校育人的关键载体，课堂是立德树人的主阵地，高校在课程体系建设和课堂改革的全过程、全维度加强思政教育，在提升思政引领力的同时也拓宽了价值引领的渠道。一方面，持续深化思想政治理论课改革创新，推动党的创新理论“进教材、进课堂、进头脑”，引导学生深刻理解习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的时代意义与实践伟力，增强科学理论的思想穿透力与精神引领力。另一方面，深入推进课程思政建设。依托学校的学科背景，有效挖掘专业课程里的思政元素，实现各门课程与思政课程同向同行、协同育人。此外，应充分发挥第二课堂的实践育人功能，打造以社会实践、志愿服务、校园文化等为载体的立体化育人空间，让青年学生在亲历新时代伟大变革中增强政治认同与行动自觉。

Forging a Strong Ideological and Political Guiding Force, Running Socialist Universities with Chinese Characteristics Well

锻造强大思政引领力，办好中国特色社会主义大学

Strengthening Party Leadership, Firmly Grasping the Direction of Running

加强党的领导，把牢办学方向。习近平总书记指出：“加强党对高校的领导，加强和改进高校党的建设，是办好中国特色社会主义大学的根本保证。”高校党委要切实担负起政治责任，健全完善“大思政”工作格局，加强对马克思主义学院建设、思想政治教育体系优化等事项的统筹协调。通过强化专门议题制度、推动校领导讲授思政课、提升基层党组织教育功能等方式，推动党的创新理论全面融入教材、课堂和头脑。充分发挥党委的统揽作用，统筹各类资源和育人力量，推进“三全育人”综合改革，以德育为先，强化“五育并举”，构建统一领导、齐抓共管、协同联动、层层落实的工作机制。推动高校思政工作与社会思潮、发展现实深度对接，推动“大思政课”走进基层社区、走进企业农村、走进历史文化遗址、走进创新前沿阵地，协同构建家校社联育机制和大中小学思政课一体化格局。

Deepen the educational function of the curriculum and consolidate the theoretical foundation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "The essence of ideological and political courses is to explain principles, and attention must be paid to methods and approaches to explain principles deeply, thoroughly, and vividly." [1]1 Xi Jinping, "Speech at the Symposium for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Schools," March 18, 2019. Ideological and political courses should adhere to using a grand historical perspective and a grand logic to explain the Party's innovative theories deeply, thoroughly, and vividly. Through pathways such as unifying teaching standards, coordinating teaching and research design, and integrating professional disciplines, the resonance of specialized courses and ideological-political education at the same frequency can be achieved. Strengthen the coordinated training of ideological and political course teachers, specialized course teachers, and practice tutors, construct a teaching community that integrates multiple teachers, links multiple courses, and coordinates multiple scenarios, and continuously enhance the capacity for collaborative education.

深化课程育人，夯实理论根基。习近平总书记指出，“思政课的本质是讲道理，要注重方式方法，把道理讲深、讲透、讲活”。思政课应坚持用大历史、大逻辑讲深讲透讲活党的创新理论，通过统一教学标准、协同教研设计、专业融合渗透等路径，实现专业课程与思政教育的同频共振。加强对思政课教师、专业课教师和实践导师的统筹培训，构建多师融合、多课联动、多场景协同的教学共同体，不断提升协同育人能力。

Strengthen organizational education and pool multi-party synergy. Give full play to the function and role of the “grand ideological and political course” in the construction of a “grand education” ecological pattern from multiple dimensions and in all respects. Promote the deep integration of activities such as themed Party days, volunteer services, and theoretical study with student growth, guiding young people to firm up their ideals and convictions and to cultivate a deep sense of family and country. All types of league and student organizations should, centering on the ideological characteristics and expression habits of young people in the New Era, plan and carry out campus cultural activities with diverse forms and novel content, implementing “education without a sound” in concrete terms and creating a sound ecology for all-environment education.

强化组织育人，凝聚多方合力。多维度、全方位发挥“大思政课”在“大育人”生态格局构建中的功能和作用。推动主题党日、志愿服务、理论学习等活动与学生成长深度融合，引导青年坚定理想信念、厚植家国情怀。各类团学组织应围绕新时代青年的思想特点和表达习惯，策划开展形式多样、内容新颖的校园文化活动，把“育人于无声”落在实处，营造出全环境育人的良好生态。

Optimize practical education and enhance educational effectiveness. Guide students to go deep into urban and rural grassroots, enterprises and institutions, and the front lines of major project construction, participating in practical projects such as social surveys, public welfare services, labor education, and field study. In real contact with social life, deepen theoretical identification and strengthen ability and skill, turning ideological and political education into a “spiritual feast that people are willing to listen to, can resonate with, and gain something from.” Build a dual-wheel-driven platform of “theoretical propaganda + service empowerment,” encouraging students to tell the stories of the times from a youth perspective, tempering their original aspiration, cultivating their feelings, and honing their character in serving the people, truly realizing the promotion of action through knowledge, the promotion of understanding through action, and the promotion of belief through understanding.

优化实践育人，增强教育实效。引导学生深入城乡基层、企事业单位和重点工程建设一线，参与社会调查、公益服务、劳动教育、实地研学等实践项目，在与社会生活的真实接触中深化理论认同、增强能力本领，把思想政治教育打造成“有人听、能共鸣、有收获”的精神盛宴。搭建“理论宣讲+服务赋能”双轮驱动平台，鼓励学生以青年视角讲述时代故事，在服务人民中淬炼初心、涵养情怀、锤炼品格，真正实现以知促行、以行促悟、以悟促信。

(Author: Wang Yin, is Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Marxism, North China University of Technology)

（作者：王引，系北方工业大学马克思主义学院党委书记）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心