Institutions of Higher Education Must Be the Vanguard of Educational Reform

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the nation’s institutions of higher education must march at the forefront of educational reform, closely centering on the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people [1]1 “Fostering virtue and nurturing people” (立德树人) is a core concept in Chinese educational policy, emphasizing moral education as the foundation of talent cultivation., accelerating the construction of a system and mechanism that is full of vitality, highly efficient, more open, and conducive to the scientific development of schools, and must be the vanguard of educational reform. Higher education, as a strategic pillar of national development, bears a special mission in advancing the building of a strong educational country and serving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Institutions of higher education must be the vanguard of educational reform, proactively grasp the pulse of the times, respond to the demands of the times, cultivate for the Party and the state socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise, and cultivate talents capable of great use for national rejuvenation.

习近平总书记指出，全国高等院校要走在教育改革前列，紧紧围绕立德树人的根本任务，加快构建充满活力、富有效率、更加开放、有利于学校科学发展的体制机制，当好教育改革排头兵。高等教育作为国家发展的战略支撑，在推进建设教育强国、服务民族复兴进程中肩负着特殊使命。高校要当好教育改革排头兵，主动把握时代脉搏，回应时代诉求，为党和国家培养德智体美劳全面发展的社会主义建设者和接班人，为民族复兴培养可堪大用之才。

First, it is an inherent requirement for fulfilling the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “The goal of our building a strong educational country is to cultivate generation after generation of socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise, and to cultivate generation after generation of pillars of talent who can be of great use and bear heavy responsibilities in socialist modernization, ensuring that the Party’s cause and the building of a strong socialist modernization country have successors.” Fulfilling the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people is the fundamental mission of running socialist universities with Chinese characteristics, and educational reform is an inherent requirement for institutions of higher education to fulfill this fundamental task.

一是落实立德树人根本任务的内在要求。习近平总书记指出：“我们建设教育强国的目的，就是培养一代又一代德智体美劳全面发展的社会主义建设者和接班人，培养一代又一代在社会主义现代化建设中可堪大用、能担重任的栋梁之才，确保党的事业和社会主义现代化强国建设后继有人。”落实立德树人根本任务是中国特色社会主义大学办学的根本使命，教育改革是高校落实立德树人根本任务的内在要求。

The fundamental task of education lies in cultivating new people for the era. Higher education cultivates high-quality talent; high-quality talent leads high-quality development; high-quality development supports Chinese-path modernization. Currently, the cause of the Party and the state is at a critical juncture; our need for higher education is more urgent than ever before, and our thirst for scientific knowledge and outstanding talent is stronger than ever before. The escalating global competition in science and technology, the deep adjustment of the domestic industrial structure, and the rapid development of the digital economy are profoundly driving educational transformation. Institutions of higher education must take the initiative, comprehensively implement the Party’s educational policy, take educational reform as a breakthrough, base themselves on national strategic needs, and undertake the heavy responsibility of cultivating new people for the era who can shoulder the task of national rejuvenation. Closely centering on the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people, cultivating composite talents with innovative thinking, an international perspective, and professional competence is the historical mission entrusted to institutions of higher education in the New Era.

教育的根本任务在于培养时代新人。高等教育培养高素质人才，高素质人才引领高质量发展，高质量发展支撑中国式现代化建设。当前，党和国家事业正处在一个关键时期，我们对高等教育的需要比以往任何时候都更加迫切，对科学知识和卓越人才的渴求比以往任何时候都更加强烈。全球科技竞争不断升级、国内产业结构深度调整以及数字经济的迅猛发展，深刻推动着教育变革。高校必须主动作为，全面贯彻党的教育方针，以教育改革为突破口，立足国家战略需求，承担起培养担当民族复兴大任的时代新人的重任。紧紧围绕立德树人根本任务，培养具备创新思维、国际视野与专业素养的复合型人才，是新时代赋予高校的历史使命。

The core goal of educational reform lies in fostering virtue and nurturing people. Virtue is established through people, and people are nurtured through virtue; only by integrating ideological and political education throughout the entire process of talent cultivation can it be ensured that the cultivated talents both adhere to a political stance and can shoulder professional responsibilities; that they possess both solid knowledge and firm beliefs. The core goal of educational reform lies in fostering virtue and nurturing people, consolidating the strong position of institutions of higher education in cultivating socialist builders and successors. The foundation of nurturing people lies in fostering virtue, originating from the essence of education, which is to forge souls, nurture people, and shape people’s spiritual world. Talent cultivation is the primary task of institutions of higher education; the foundation of an institution of higher education lies in fostering virtue and nurturing people. Institutions of higher education are socialist universities with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China; they must unswervingly fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people, strengthen political guidance for youth, and integrate fostering virtue and nurturing people into all links of ideological and moral education, cultural knowledge education, and social practice education.

教育改革的核心目标在于立德树人。德因人而立，人因德而树，只有将思想政治教育贯穿人才培养全过程，才能确保培养的人才既坚守政治立场，又能担起专业重任；既具备扎实学识，又有坚定信仰。教育改革的核心目标在于立德树人、巩固高校培养社会主义建设者和接班人的坚强阵地。育人的根本在于立德，源于教育的本质是铸魂育人、塑造人的精神世界。人才培养是高校的首要任务，高校立身之本在于立德树人。高校是中国共产党领导下的中国特色社会主义大学，要坚定不移落实好立德树人根本任务，加强对青年的政治引领，把立德树人融入思想道德教育、文化知识教育、社会实践教育各环节。

Second, it is a powerful support for being the vanguard of educational reform. By virtue of their unique advantages such as high-quality talent resources, strong scientific research capabilities, multicultural integration, and multi-party exchange and cooperation, institutions of higher education demonstrate strong leading value and should naturally become the vanguard of educational reform, leading the socialist direction of running schools and promoting educational reform and development.

二是当好教育改革排头兵的有力支撑。高校凭借优质人才资源、强大的科研能力、多元文化交融和多方交流合作等独特优势，展现出强大的引领价值，理应成为教育改革排头兵，引领社会主义办学方向，推动教育改革发展。

High-quality talent resources are the core supporting force for educational reform. Experts and scholars in various disciplines and fields within institutions of higher education possess profound academic attainments and rich teaching experience, providing solid theoretical support and practical guidance for educational reform. Students in institutions of higher education, with their active thinking, abundant energy, and spirit of innovation and creation, should become important participants in educational reform and testers of the effectiveness of educational practice, injecting youthful vitality into educational reform.

优质人才资源是教育改革的核心支撑力。高校各学科领域专家学者具有深厚的学术造诣和丰富的教学经验，为教育改革提供了坚实的理论支撑和实践指导。高校学生思维活跃、精力充沛、充满创新创造精神，应成为教育改革的重要参与者和教育实践成效的检验者，为教育改革注入青春活力。

Strong teaching and scientific research capabilities are the key driving force for educational reform. Institutions of higher education are important fields for cultivating talent through teaching and scientific research; they should transform continuously produced innovative and breakthrough teaching and scientific research achievements into educational resources, enrich teaching content, keep teaching at the forefront of the times, and provide scientific research support for cultivating innovative talents.

强大的教学科研能力是教育改革的关键驱动力。高校是依托教学和科学研究培养人才的重要场域，应将不断产出的创新性和突破性教学科研成果转化为教育资源，充实教学内容，使教学紧跟时代前沿，为培养创新型人才提供科研支撑。

Cultural integration is an important resource force for educational reform. The diverse student body and faculty composition constitute rich material and practical subjects for cultural exchange and integration within institutions of higher education, becoming the basis for producing new outcomes. Abundant curriculum resources and academic resources become the basic conditions for teachers and students in institutions of higher education to study multidisciplinary knowledge, broaden cultural horizons, and expand thinking and vision, providing cultural nourishment for teachers and students to further enhance their professional levels.

文化交融是教育改革的重要资源力。多样化生源和师资队伍构成高校文化交流交融的丰富素材与实践主体，成为产出新成果的基础。充足的课程资源和学术资源成为高校师生学习研究多学科知识、拓宽文化视野、拓展思维胸怀的基本条件，为高校师生进一步提升专业水平提供了文化滋养。

Multi-party exchange and cooperation is an important driving force for educational reform. By leveraging their school-running heritage, resource endowments, and regional characteristics to carry out exchange and cooperation, various institutions of higher education can achieve the sharing of educational resources and form new advantages in the development of higher education. Through industry-university-research cooperation, education is closely integrated with industry, making education a link that promotes high-quality economic and social development. Through exchange and cooperation with international universities and educational institutions, they can promptly understand international education development trends, introduce advanced educational concepts and teaching models, and promote educational reform and development to achieve new results.

多方交流合作是教育改革的重要推动力。各高校凭借其办学传承、资源禀赋、区域特色开展交流合作，能够实现教育资源共享，形成高等教育发展新优势。通过产学研合作，将教育与产业紧密结合，使教育成为推动经济社会高质量发展的纽带。通过与国际高校、教育机构的交流合作，及时了解国际教育发展趋势，引入先进教育理念和教学模式，推动教育改革发展取得新成效。

Third, it is an inevitable requirement for promoting the high-quality development of higher education. For institutions of higher education to be the vanguard of educational reform, they must take breaking down institutional and mechanism obstacles as a breakthrough, take fulfilling the task of fostering virtue and nurturing people as the core, and achieve systematic innovation in aspects such as the educational evaluation system, cultivation model, and management mechanism.

三是推动高等教育高质量发展的必然要求。高校当好教育改革排头兵，要以破除体制机制障碍为突破口，以落实立德树人为核心，在教育评价体系、培养模式、管理机制等方面实现系统性创新。

Reforming the educational evaluation system is a key lever for educational reform in institutions of higher education. Institutions of higher education must take concrete actions to fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people, and resolutely break the undesirable tendencies of emphasizing scientific research over teaching, emphasizing professional work over ideological and political work, and emphasizing intellectual education over moral education. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to deepen the reform of the educational system, improve the implementation mechanism for fostering virtue and nurturing people, reverse unscientific educational evaluation orientations, and resolutely overcome the stubborn and chronic problems of only focusing on scores, only focusing on advancement to higher levels of schooling, only focusing on diplomas, only focusing on theses, and only focusing on titles [2]2 The “five onlys” (唯分数、唯升学、唯文凭、唯论文、唯帽子) refer to a criticized set of narrow evaluation criteria in Chinese education, focusing solely on test scores, school advancement, diplomas, published papers, and academic titles or honors., fundamentally solving the problem of the educational evaluation baton. An educational evaluation system for well-rounded development morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise should be constructed, increasing the weight of dimensions such as social practice, innovation achievements, and moral performance, strengthening the educational function of curriculum-based ideological and political education, and incorporating the effectiveness of teachers’ integration of ideological and political elements into teaching into the assessment system, effectively guiding teachers and students to value “fostering virtue.”

革新教育评价体系是高校教育改革的关键抓手。高校要以切实行动落实立德树人根本任务，坚决破除重科研轻教学、重业务轻思政、重智育轻德育等不良倾向。习近平总书记强调，要深化教育体制改革，健全立德树人落实机制，扭转不科学的教育评价导向，坚决克服唯分数、唯升学、唯文凭、唯论文、唯帽子的顽瘴痼疾，从根本上解决教育评价指挥棒问题。应构建德智体美劳全面发展的教育评价体系，增加社会实践、创新成果、道德表现等维度的比重，强化课程思政育人功能，将教师在教学中融入思政元素的成效纳入考核体系，有效引导师生对“立德”的重视。

Innovating the talent cultivation model is the core task of educational reform in institutions of higher education. Institutions of higher education must base themselves on national strategies and industrial needs, adjust the structure of academic disciplines and specialties, and cultivate distinctive and advantageous majors. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that, according to the new trends in scientific and technological development, the setting of disciplines in higher education institutions and the talent cultivation model should be optimized to cultivate urgently needed talents for developing new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development. In terms of the curriculum system, disciplinary barriers should be broken down, interdisciplinary subjects should be established, and cross-disciplinary courses should be offered to cultivate students’ comprehensive qualities. In terms of teaching organization, seminar-style, project-based, and inquiry-based learning should be promoted, students should be encouraged to participate in scientific research projects and social practice, and students’ scientific spirit of pursuing truth, respecting laws, and daring to explore should be cultivated, creating for the Party and the state a large-scale, reasonably structured, and high-quality innovative talent team.

创新人才培养模式是高校教育改革的核心任务。高校要立足国家战略和产业需求，调整学科专业结构，培育特色优势专业。习近平总书记强调，要根据科技发展新趋势，优化高等学校学科设置、人才培养模式，为发展新质生产力、推动高质量发展培养急需人才。在课程体系上，要打破学科壁垒，建立交叉学科，开设跨学科课程，培养学生的综合素养。在教学组织上，应推广研讨式、项目式、探究式学习，鼓励学生参与科研项目、社会实践，培养学生追求真理、尊重规律、勇于探索的科学精神，为党和国家造就一支规模宏大、结构合理、素质优良的创新型人才队伍。

Improving the management system and mechanism is an important guarantee for educational reform in institutions of higher education. Institutions of higher education should construct an education and teaching management system, grant autonomy in running schools to colleges and departments, and stimulate the reform momentum of grassroots teaching units. In resource allocation, tilt towards the frontline of teaching, and increase investment in teaching reform projects and curriculum construction. Establish and improve a fault-tolerance mechanism for educational reform, encourage teachers and students to boldly innovate and explore, which can effectively stimulate the enthusiasm for educational reform. At the same time, develop educational resources such as on-campus management and services, enable teachers to participate orderly in the process of nurturing people, consciously assume the main responsibility for nurturing people, realize the transformation of the nurturing subject from single to comprehensive, the nurturing process from fragmented to holistic, and the nurturing perspective from flat to three-dimensional, achieving the internalization of fostering virtue and nurturing people into all fields, aspects, and links of the construction and management of institutions of higher education.

完善管理体制机制是高校教育改革的重要保障。高校应构建教育教学管理体系，赋予院系办学自主权，激发基层教学单位的改革动力。在资源配置上，向教学一线倾斜，加大对教学改革项目、课程建设的投入。建立健全教育改革容错机制，鼓励师生大胆创新探索，能有效激发教育改革的积极性。同时，开发校内管理、服务等教育资源，使教师有序参与育人环节，自觉担起育人主体责任，实现育人主体从单一走向全面、育人过程从片段走向整体、育人视野从扁平走向立体，做到将立德树人内化到高校建设和管理各领域、各方面、各环节。

The rise of education leads to the rise of the nation; the strength of education leads to the strength of the nation. That institutions of higher education serve as the vanguard of education reform is a mission entrusted by the era and an inevitable requirement for their own development. Institutions of higher education must place the Party’s leadership throughout the entire process of education reform. Facing new circumstances and new tasks, institutions of higher education must persist in educating people for the Party and cultivating talent for the country, unswervingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to forge souls and educate people, serve as the vanguard of education reform, take the implementation of fostering virtue and nurturing people [3]3 “Fostering virtue and nurturing people” (立德树人) is a core educational principle of the CPC that prioritizes moral character development as the foundation of talent cultivation. as the foundation, take reform and innovation as the driving force, accelerate the construction of a high-quality education system, and make new and greater contributions to cultivating new generations capable of shouldering the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and building a strong educational nation.

教育兴则国家兴，教育强则国家强。高校当好教育改革排头兵，是时代赋予的使命，也是自身发展的必然要求。高校必须把党的领导贯穿教育改革全过程。面对新形势新任务，高校要坚持为党育人、为国育才，坚持不懈用习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想铸魂育人，当好教育改革排头兵，以落实立德树人为根本，以改革创新为动力，加快建设高质量教育体系，为培养担当民族复兴大任的时代新人、建设教育强国作出新的更大贡献。

(This article is a phased achievement of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Social Science Fund General Project “Research on Constructing a Shared Spiritual Home for the Chinese Nation Online among Xinjiang Ethnic Minority University Students” (2025CKS029))

（本文系新疆维吾尔自治区社科基金一般项目“新疆各民族大学生构筑网上中华民族共有精神家园研究”（2025CKS029）阶段性成果）

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Marxism, Yili Normal University)

（作者系伊犁师范大学马克思主义学院副教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心