"I hope to learn something about philosophy that will make my ways of thinking more strategic considering the overall situation, so as to shape a unique development mode in our enterprise with our own characteristics. Though it’s really tiring to commute between Beijing and Guangzhou every week to attend the class, I still think it’s worthwhile," said a CEO of a big construction corporation in Guangzhou, who came to attend the first session of the further study course in humanities and sociology at the Philosophy Department of Beijing Normal University. At this special class, all his classmates -- over 30 -- were executives or senior management personnel of many big corporations from across the country.
The tuition fee for the weekend courses over a two-year period reportedly is pretty high; in addition, no diploma will be issued upon the graduation. Then, what has attracted so many busy executives to take such trouble in traveling weekly to the course?
According to Han Zhen, dean of the Philosophy Department of Beijing Normal University and also academic supervisor for doctoral students, most of the participants are MBA graduates from Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China. Following graduation, they put forward a common question: Why do many big enterprises in China always keep on the same scale during their development, and what makes their strength easily wear away as soon as they reach a certain peak. In their discussion, all of them feel that what many Chinese enterprises want is a kind of strategic thinking, which can be obtained through studying philosophy.
Beijing Normal University began the tide in offering philosophy courses to CEOs. But it is Peking University that has taken the lead in offering courses in humanities. Its class on humanities officially kicked off on March 17.
The class, co-sponsored by the university’s Philosophy Department and the Chinese Philosophy and Culture Research Institute focuses on some hot topics covering philosophy, history and literature, for instance, the interpretation of various schools of thought and their exponents during the period from pre-Qin times to the early Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), Book of Changes, Buddhist philosophy and traditional art. Three Chinese masters in philosophy Zhang Dainian, Ji Xianlin, and Tang Yijie, are consultants to this special class.
The humanities class will extend for two years, with two lectures every Sunday, and more than 100 lectures in total. The charge for all the lectures amounts to 180,000 yuan (US$21,739) per person, and one single lecture costs 300 yuan (US$36). The further study course in philosophy and humanities at Beijing Normal University also extends for two years. All the classes are arranged on Saturdays and Sundays, with the tuition fee reaching 9,900 yuan (1,196).
Beijing Normal University has invited supervisors for doctoral degree students to teach the classes, whose curriculum includes Chinese philosophy, Buddhist Culture, Taoism, History of Western philosophy, Culture of Christianity, Economic Philosophy, Philosophy on Management and Development of Marxism in China, etc.
Han Zhen also mentioned that, in the past, people attached little importance to philosophy, which in turn, severely restricted entrance numbers to the philosophy department in his school. Nowadays, however, these senior talents have finally realized the importance of this subject in their own improvement, as a good command of philosophy can bring somewhat philosophical thinking in their strategy-making process. On the other hand, he said, it can effectively promote schools’ education system, imbuing much confidence into both philosophy professors and students’ enthusiasm for this course. "After all, the end of philosophy education is not to train thousands of philosophers, rather, its final goal is to lead people to know this world and shape this world with a philosophical guidance, and then heading to the improvement in people’s thinking," he added.
These students’ enthusiasm in this course goes beyond teachers’ expectations. In response to a professor’s requirement, a student drove to downtown Beijing -- Xidan -- and bought many books worth over 1,000 yuan (US$121). One CEO is even ready to encourage his other senior managers to listen to the lectures. In his opinion: "Many personnel in our company could do an excellent job in their grassroots. But, as soon as they get promoted to management level, their theoretical basis is not solid enough to enable them to meet the challenges. A philosophy class can make up for their shortcomings."
At the lecture hall in Peking University, a human resources manager of a well-known enterprise said that to carry out training programs for employees in relation to humanity has become a common understanding among many successful enterprises. It is widely believed that a deep cultural and philosophical background is definitely incorporated in various aspects of our life, whether in the field of politics, economics, and management, or in terms of the ways people take to get along with others.
As for the comparatively high tuition fee for this kind of special classes, Ji Jianzhong, the organizer of the human culture class and a professor with the philosophy department of Peking University, said that, education in human culture is also pretty valuable along with a MBA, and the large attendance showed this was recognized. He hopes that one day, their efforts will truly wake up people’s awareness towards this unique education -- the education focusing on humanities.
(中国青年报 [China Youth Daily], by Li Chu, translated by Feng Shu for china.org.cn)
