In this week, we talked about the purpose and history of the university in general and also about Virginia Tech. I am really impressed and also glad to learn about the history of VT, and I feel that all the students in VT should take this class and learn about our history.

In my opinion, from the perspective of a student, the purpose of the university or higher education should be to enable the students to learn knowledge and skills in order to pursue their goals or dreams in life, and also be able to serve the community or society. From the society’s perspective,  the purposes of university or higher education are to discover new knowledge that push humankind forward, and also serve the community or society as an education and research institute.

Personally, what I hope to gain from my education is the ability to learn new knowledge, the research attitude and skills, and also a healthy life style. Professionally, I want to gain the ability of information collection and managing, so I can stay and catch up with the edge of the new research in my field.  I think the purpose of Virginia Tech fits well with the purpose of my own life.

There are many ways that models of the American research university different from those in China, the one that I think universities in China should learn from the American research universities is the attitude and principle of serving the community.  I think universities in China emphasized more on research and education, but not enough about giving back to the society and serving the community.