Research On The Major Change Policy Of Chinese Universities From The Perspective Of Learning Freedo

For a long time,undergraduate education has been the cornerstone of higher education in China,and the quality of undergraduate talent cultivation has a decisive influence on the quality and level of the whole higher education to a certain extent.Majors are the most basic teaching units in universities and play a pivotal role in the cultivation of talents.As an important way to meet students’ individual learning needs,changing majors has a positive effect on the growth of talents.However,since 2002,when Fudan University started to allow students to change their majors,there is still a problem that it is difficult to meet the demand of university students to change their majors in China.With the popularization of higher education,the state level has begun to pay more and more attention to the problem of students changing their majors.In recent years,the Ministry of Education has issued a series of policies one after another,clearly proposing to implement the autonomy of universities to change majors and realize students’ right to freely choose their majors.Therefore,some undergraduate universities in Shanghai have been selected as a case study of the policy of changing majors.Based on the results of the study,targeted interviews have been conducted with students who have the experience of changing majors and the deans of academic affairs of some universities to explore in depth the operation mechanism of the policy of changing majors in universities and to provide reasonable suggestions for the adjustment of the policy of changing majors in universities in China to further guarantee students’ freedom of learning.Based on a review of the research literature on transfer of majors at home and abroad,comparative analysis at the macro level,micro interpretation and comparison as well as the mobility of students transferring majors in colleges and universities were carried out through the texts of transfer policies in some undergraduate colleges and universities in Shanghai.Firstly,through the comparative analysis of the university-level transfer policy texts,it is found that in terms of the number of applicants,most of the institutions have abolished the restriction on the number of students transferring out and mainly adopt the approach of restricting the number of students transferring in;in terms of the application time,most of the universities have clearly specified the application time for transferring majors,usually at the end of the first academic year or the beginning of the second academic year;in terms of the restriction of application conditions,the combination of transferable and non-transferable criteria is basically adopted.In terms of application requirements,a combination of transferable and non-transferable criteria is used.A cross-sectional comparison of the application requirements of different universities shows that the differences between different levels of universities are that compared with non-dual first-class public undergraduate institutions and ordinary private undergraduate institutions,the university-level transfer policy of double firstclass universities has a lower threshold in terms of students’ academic performance and attaches more importance to students’ academic interests,while the differences between different types of universities are that comprehensive universities and polytechnics usually examine whether students are admitted for special admissions and The difference between different types of universities is that comprehensive universities and polytechnics usually examine whether students are admitted for special admissions and special majors,while industrial universities attach more importance to students’ academic performance,and the focus of different types of industrial institutions is also different.Secondly,through the microscopic interpretation and comparison of the texts of transfer policies at the level of second-level faculties.Among the acceptance conditions,the second-level faculties pay more attention to the academic performance of undergraduates in their original majors when screening and reviewing,followed by knowledge base and ability,ideological and moral conduct,professional background and foreign language proficiency.A horizontal comparison by discipline shows that majors in science and technology pay more attention to the knowledge base and professional background of transfer students,while majors in literature place more emphasis on the foreign language ability and proficiency of transfer students,and there are few restrictions on the professional background of transfer students in majors such as law,education and literature;a horizontal comparison between majors with national characteristics and priorities and ordinary majors shows that,compared with ordinary The requirements of national specialties and key majors are more stringent than those of ordinary majors.In terms of assessment methods,"written examination + interview" and "interview" are the methods chosen more often by faculties.A cross-sectional comparison by discipline reveals that science and engineering disciplines are more likely to use interviews than arts disciplines to assess transfer students.In terms of admission rules,"interview scores" are the most common method used by departments to calculate scores,but more secondary departments still use students’ original major scores as an important basis for admitting students.A cross-sectional comparison by discipline shows that the admission rules for science and engineering disciplines are based more on students’ original major grades and final interview scores than those for arts disciplines;a cross-sectional comparison between national specialties and key majors and general majors shows that admissions to national specialties and key majors are based more on students’ original major grades and overall scores,while admissions to general majors are based more on students’ interview scores.The students’ interview results are used as the basis for admission.Again,according to the results of the implementation of the university transfer policy,it is found that more students apply for transferring into the dominant majors of the university and more students apply for transferring out of the general majors,but the degree of competition for transferring majors is also limited by the number of places accepted by the majors.In addition,it was found that undergraduates are rational when changing majors and do not blindly choose majors without regard to their own abilities.Finally,based on the results of the study,the interviewees were purposefully selected for interviews,and the reasons behind the results were further analysed based on the content of the interviews.Firstly,the reasons for the limited freedom of university students to change their majors include the limited autonomy of universities,the weak awareness of university administrators to serve students and the gradual loss of students’ enthusiasm to change their majors freely.Secondly,the differences in the transfer policies of different levels of universities are mainly due to the differences in the orientation and cultivation objectives of universities and the differences in students’ learning ability.Fourthly,the differences in transfer policies between national specialties and key majors and general majors are mainly influenced by the recognition of majors,enrollment targets and per capita funding.Based on the above study,the advantages and experiences of some universities in transferring majors are summarized,mainly including: firstly,the application requirements for transferring majors are relaxed,so that there is no threshold for transferring out;secondly,the declaration method of multi-volunteer transferring majors increases the range of choices;thirdly,diversified criteria for transferring majors meet the needs of various students.At the same time,the study reflects on the shortcomings of the current undergraduate transfer policy in three stages: the early stage,the middle stage and the late stage of the transfer process,taking into account the implementation of the transfer policy and the interviews.Focusing on the problems of the current university transfer policy,we propose policy improvement suggestions for university faculties and departments and individual students,taking into account theories such as freedom of learning and stakeholders: firstly,students should make clear the reason for the change of major,cultivate the ability of rational choice;Secondly,students should take the initiative to carry out self-management and career planning;Thirdly,students should actively adapt to the new environment,learn to self-decompress;Fourthly,students should improve the independent learning ability,make full use of learning resources;Finally,is to develop the spirit and consciousness of self-responsibility.