Harmonizing ecological sustainability and higher education development: Wisdom from Chinese ancient education philosophy

Abstract

Ecological sustainability can be considered the primary goal of higher education development, as it provides an ontological way to think about what it means for higher education’s long-term development. Given the widespread concern of ecological sustainability, it’s urgent to interpret and deconstruct ecological sustainability in Chinese higher education from indigenous and original perspectives. By drawing on the wisdom from Chinese ancient education philosophy which provides unique enlightenment for ecological sustainability, this paper discusses the harmonization of ecological sustainability and higher education development. In the light of the connotation of contemporary ecological sustainability and the new development of Chinese higher education, the paper also constructs a dynamic model of ecologically sustainable development in Chinese higher education. The aim is to initiate more philosophical dialogues between ancient and modern education, and to provide a new way of conceptualizing Chinese ancient education philosophy in the postmodern times.

Keywords:

• Ecological sustainability
• higher education development
• harmonizing
• Chinese ancient education philosophy
• wisdom

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences under Grant (No.17YJCZH026); the Social Science Research Project of Shandong Higher Education Institutions under Grant (No. J17RA044).

Notes on contributors

Xiaoxia Chen

Xiaoxia Chen is a senior lecturer of School of Translation Studies, Qufu Normal University, China. Her published work in education concerns the practice of teaching and learning and higher education development. Her recent research activity has focused on building a perfect learning environment for college learns, with particular attention to drawing wisdom from Chinese ancient philosophy. She has published more than 20 refereed journal articles and conference papers.