Professor G witnessed four institutional adjustments.

The first time was the institutional adjustment of 1956. At that time, he had just graduated from Dalian Institute of Technology and was teaching at the Maritime College next to Dalian Institute of Technology. In the adjustment of colleges and universities, the vicissitudes of his alma mater happened under his eyes. "The shipbuilding major of Dalian University of Technology, especially the internal combustion engine major, is the national trump card, but for the sake of concentration, the shipbuilding department of Dalian University of Technology has all been merged into Shanghai Shipbuilding Institute. The shipbuilding major of Dalian University of Technology has become a blank, and it will be rebuilt in two years, but the main force has left. How easy is reconstruction? So until today, the shipbuilding major of Dalian University of Technology has not recovered. "

At that time, Professor G never imagined that the wave of adjustment in colleges and universities was endless, and he was soon involved. 1963, the Ministry of Communications held a meeting and decided to make major adjustments to its affiliated institutions. Management majors are all transferred to Shanghai, port and waterway majors are all concentrated in Chongqing, marine engineering majors are all concentrated in Dalian, and shipbuilding majors are all concentrated in Wuhan. Professor G, who has been engaged in shipbuilding research all his life, was ordered to report to Wuhan Waterway Engineering College. However, Wuhan Waterway Engineering College has been greatly weakened in the national college adjustment 1952, leaving only three majors; Ten years of reunion, just back to life, from the third to the eleventh. The second wave of college adjustment has dealt a blow to Wuhan Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, leaving only four majors out of eleven.

Professor G has a lot of complaints about these two institutional adjustments. "The adjustment of colleges and universities in history was all wrong", but now that I think about it, he is still excited: "The discipline tradition is often broken overnight, and the discipline ecology is often disrupted overnight."

Although full of opinions, Professor G can do nothing. Who let him be just an ordinary teacher? People say it lightly, and the adjustment of colleges and universities is only obedience. After another 20 years, the situation has finally changed a lot-he became the dean of Wuhan Waterway Engineering College, which is said to be among the decision makers, but even so, he only obeyed: his term expired at 1992. At the faculty meeting, the superior leader just announced that he was retiring from the position of dean, and then he announced a news that he had never heard before: Wuhan Waterway College merged with Wuhan He Yun College to form a new Wuhan Jiaotong University. "The merger is not a bad thing, I don't mind. But when the superior makes this decision, I am still the administrative person in charge of one party after all. Why didn't you tell me about such a big thing? " Professor G recalled helplessly.

It is precisely because of such a rich resume that when another wave of large-scale mergers came at the turn of the century, when the national public opinion was raging, Professor G was very calm-he clearly knew that this merger was a typical government act, just like previous college adjustments; So this merger is unstoppable, and it is useless to say anything. That's true. At the climax of the merger, a white-haired old headmaster protested to the competent authorities that he could not follow blindly because he was responsible for the fate of more than 10 thousand teachers and students in the school. The official in charge smiled coldly: "Hey hey, who wants you to be responsible for them? Soon you won't be the principal, go home and have grandchildren. What responsibility do you have to them? "

"The trend of the times, the debate is meaningless. So what we were concerned about at that time was not whether to merge, but what to do after the merger. " Professor g thinks his calculation is clever: "arranged marriage does not necessarily produce love." You can get married before you fall in love. Since the overall situation cannot be changed, the focus of our thinking can only be how to avoid disadvantages and reduce losses while conforming to the overall situation. "

However, luck has not turned into reality. 200 1 The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Communications, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan Jiaotong University and Wuhan University of Automotive Technology, which are affiliated to China Automotive Industry Group Corporation, merged to form Wuhan University of Technology. But two years later, the warmth in expectation is out of reach, and only the pain lasts.

"Yujiatou Defence War"

The most intense pain stems from the so-called "big campus planning".

The basic idea of this plan is: "develop a new 2000-mu campus in Nanhu area, and plan and build a new main campus from a high starting point according to modern concepts." The new main campus and Jianhu teaching area across the road are designed according to the scale of 32,000 students, which promotes the centralization of teaching management in school organs and departments, promotes the integration of disciplines and resources, and promotes the integration of Mafangshan Campus and Yujiatou Campus. "

Yujiatou is the former site of Wuhan Jiaotong University. The former Wuhan University of Technology and the former Wuhan University of Automobile Technology are all in Mafangshan. Distance between the two places17km. The main campuses of Mafangshan and Yujiatou should keep pace, which undoubtedly constitutes a huge obstacle. Therefore, school leaders plan to build a new main campus in Nanhu area next to Mafangshan to "promote the integration of Mafangshan campus and Yujiatou campus." The widely circulated explanation is that the so-called "integration" is nothing more than moving Yujiatou campus to Nanhu area by land replacement. At the beginning of the project, it caused a strong controversy in Wuhan University of Technology. During the dispute, a senior leader came to inspect. According to the official bulletin issued by Wuhan University of Technology, senior leaders gave instructions on the spot: Wuhan University of Technology does not have a unified campus and cannot meet the needs of the school's further development. Building a big campus is a very urgent problem. Therefore, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, he decided to support the plan.

The intention of the school is self-evident: the high-level butt sits on the side of the supporters and sees what the opponents say! Surprisingly, however, the high-level "instructions" not only angered the opponents, but Yujiatou Campus "had a lot of comments, people were in turmoil, and there was a voice of opposition." Nine veteran cadres jointly sent a letter to the competent department for verification at the first time.

"Because that report is not true at all." Yu Jiatou, a veteran cadre, said angrily: "The school leaders stuffed their private goods into the report. The purpose of "unifying campus" and "promoting the integration of Mafangshan campus and Yujiatou campus" is obviously to eliminate Yujiatou campus. How can Vice Minister Zhang Baoqing say that? In fact, what we have heard is that senior leaders not only do not advocate the cancellation of Yujiatou campus, but repeatedly emphasize the need to make good use of the resources of the original campus. Why is this not mentioned in the report? "

"The big campus scheme is subjectively wrong, objectively costly and infeasible. This plan is totally unacceptable to us. " An old professor at Yujiatou said. "You go for a walk to each campus of Wuhan University of Technology and see which campus is comparable to Yu Jiatou? What a waste such a good campus will cause if it is sold! "

There are indeed too many highlights in Yujiatou Campus: the water is bright and the birds are fragrant. Egg-yellow buildings, facing south, are neatly arranged among the trees. Of course, the most striking thing is its teaching and research infrastructure. Two of the three national key disciplines of Wuhan University of Technology, Ship Engineering and Ocean Engineering, are located in Yujiatou Campus. It is said that "a ship-related university can have these two key disciplines at the same time, which is unique in China." There are many other key disciplines at the ministerial level. Yujiatou Campus also has a series of important large-scale laboratories, some of which are unique to domestic universities and some of which are not available in other key universities. For example, the only model test tank for deep and shallow tugboats in China; The earliest and most advanced ferrography laboratory in China, which is used to detect the wear of power machinery, has successfully developed its own marine management simulator, reaching the international advanced level at that time. Yujiatou Campus Library is the largest and most modern library in Wuhan University of Technology. Such a strong infrastructure is the result of the efforts of several generations and the investment of the state finance for decades. If it is really abandoned, it will be really embarrassing.

"Yujiatou's infrastructure is more solid than any campus. As long as one-fifth or even less of the more than two billion yuan for the construction of the new campus is spent, these facilities can be upgraded to a higher level. Not only the existing key disciplines can maintain the development momentum, but also disciplines with considerable level, such as navigation technology, logistics engineering and computer science, are expected to become national key disciplines. It is hard to understand that it is necessary to throw away the golden bowl and spend more money to rebuild an ordinary bowl. " The old professor said in confusion.

The implementation of the big campus plan needs more than 2 billion investment, which is another important reason why Yu Jiatou's faculty is hard to let go. A document pointed out: "To raise such a huge amount of funds in a few years, in addition to concentrating the school's own financial resources (the school has now borrowed 200-300 million yuan from the bank) and selling several isolated small campuses, it is mainly solved by bank loans. Schools are not profit-making units. What income does the huge debt depend on? The consequence must be that within a few years from now, the national bank will have more bad debts, the investment in discipline construction of the whole school will be greatly reduced, the advantages of the original disciplines will be seriously threatened, and the welfare of teachers and students will be greatly affected. "

With such a complicated pattern, it is doomed that Ma Fangshan and Yu Jiatou can't reach an understanding on the big campus issue. The report that senior leaders support the big campus will only add fuel to the fire.

Decentralization? Centralization?

The "Yujiatou Defence War" seems to be just a campus site selection dispute, but what is hidden behind it is a management system dispute. In fact, it is the pain of merger and the pain of institutional friction.

In April 2002, an official of the Ministry of Education made a public speech, saying, "We should be extremely cautious when building a giant university. I don't agree with the sudden establishment of too many super-large universities, because we don't have enough experience in managing super-large universities, and there is still a groping process to manage them well in China; There are not only problems of school management, but also problems of improving the social environment. "

The newly established Wuhan University of Technology is just a "suddenly established" giant university. The school has more than 42,000 full-time students, distributed in several campuses; The scale of running a school suddenly expanded, disciplines and specialties suddenly increased, the scope and level of management suddenly improved, and the organizational system was extremely chaotic. As an official said, "We don't have enough experience in managing super-large universities", but we can only learn from the traditional experience of managing a single campus. So the traditional experience of managing a single campus is naturally transplanted to a new giant university. For this reason, the competent authorities have repeatedly stressed: "Once merged, it must be done in one step. After the merger is announced, we must achieve a team, an institution, a system, a finance and a development plan to realize the' five unifications' of people, finance, materials, teaching, research and management. "

The school ecology has been turned upside down, but the management mode has not changed, and the problems, contradictions and conflicts can be imagined. A former school leader told reporters:

"The new team will come up with five unifications, and all the original institutions will be cancelled. I don't think much of this. I suggest that they do not move the original institutions and cadres, and manage their respective campuses; Then ten people from each campus will form the school leadership team. The original problems and contradictions in each campus are still handled and digested by each campus, and the school leaders only observe, compare and coordinate, and choose the best. In doing so, on the one hand, you can be detached and stay awake; On the other hand, it will not limit the initiative and creativity of the grassroots. But they won't listen. They'll take all the power. As a result, power was taken away, and so were problems and contradictions, which were concentrated on the leaders of several schools. There is a way to collect power, but there is no way to solve the problem. This is not asking for it. "

Highly concentrated, even to the point of detail. For example, each campus library has no right to purchase books by itself, and each campus hospital has no right to purchase drugs by itself. They can only be purchased centrally by Mafangshan main campus and distributed at different levels. The canteens in each campus have no right to purchase food and non-staple food by themselves. Although Yujiatou canteen has cooperated with the nearby food market for decades, it is no longer possible to purchase goods from the nearby food market. It must be purchased by the catering center of Mafangshan main campus, and then the goods will be delivered to Yujiatou canteen by car 17 km every day. With the transfer of power, it is the transfer of interests. For example, the profits of all canteens in Yujiatou must be handed over to Mafangshan main campus verbatim; Even the athletes in Yujiatou campus have been transferred out-Yujiatou campus was originally a water transport college, water sports is a natural strength, and water training facilities are quite perfect. But after the merger, I would rather leave Yujiatou's water training facilities idle, rent a venue in the society and transfer the water sports team to the main campus. Only strips, no blocks. "Cut off all horizontal connections, and don't worry about the following, fearing that the following will be alone and disobey the leadership." Logistics cadres explained with a wry smile at home.

Centralized to this extent, the outcome is absurd. Logistics work is regional, fast-changing and sudden, which requires timely monitoring, convenient feedback and quick handling. Therefore, logistics work should implement the principle of localization and focus on blocks. However, the principle of localization does not conform to "substantial integration" and "five unifications"; So less than half a year after the merger, the block base became the master. Cross-regional and cross-campus management, with large stalls and long fronts, inevitably leads to management blind spots. For example, party member, the party branch of the catering center, is located in more than 20 canteens in 8 campuses, spanning more than 20 kilometers, so that the organizational life can not be carried out normally at all, so that party member of the same branch has not known him for several years. As for the daily business of the food center, such as buying food and delivering food, collecting and paying for it, asking for instructions and reporting. Of course, it is more complicated and far-fetched; Therefore, some people joked that administratively, he is only the director of a section chief's catering center, who needs not only a special car, but also a helicopter. The catering center is just one of more than ten "centers" of the logistics group, and there are also water and electricity management centers, campus management centers, student boarding centers, property management centers, business service centers, transportation service centers, building maintenance centers, communication and postal centers ... All these "centers" are facing the same problems as the catering center.

The command organs are all concentrated in the main campus of Mafangshan, and there are no command organs in other campuses. There are more than 10,000 undergraduates 1 10,000 in Yujiatou Campus, with a total population of nearly 40,000, including faculty and their families. It is like a group army, but it has no commander and political commissar. Nearly 40,000 people eat and drink Lazar, and no one else in the family is responsible for it. The person in charge and the organization are in the main campus of Mafangshan, which is17km away. Ma Fangshan has the final say in everything, but Ma Fangshan is beyond his reach, and it is not easy to manage it carefully. The campuses are leaderless and the logistics are scattered. High concentration leads to high looseness, the actual logistics management in each campus is weakened sharply, and the quality of logistics management is declining sharply.

This is a doctor's personal experience:

"Just a few days ago, there was a sudden problem with the power supply line in my laboratory. If this happened before the merger, it would be very simple. Take two steps to the logistics office and hire an electrician to solve the problem for an hour. I can't do it now. I have to ask Ma Fangshan first, wait for Ma Fangshan's consent, and wait for Ma Fangshan to withdraw money to buy wires. This is a big deal. Better to rely on yourself than to go to others for help. As a result, I paid for it myself and solved the problem myself. "

But the sharp decline in management quality is not the only bad result. Another evil consequence that is also criticized by people is the sharp increase in internal transaction costs, which leads to a sharp increase in management costs. The transportation cost is as high as more than 10,000 yuan per day and more than 3 million yuan per year just to pick up and drop off faculty and staff to work in the school district. Others, such as hospitality and communication fees, are rising steadily.

Higher management costs and inferior management quality are so "cost-effective" that it is staggering. Many people can't help but miss the time before the merger, thinking that independence is better, and a high degree of centralization has become an independent catalyst. "Before the merger, just tell us the benefits of the merger, not to mention the problems that may arise from the merger." An old professor criticized the competent department and said, "In fact, many problems could have been foreseen. Predictable problems must be avoided. Now, all the problems have come out. "

"Today is not as good as before" is the common understanding of all parties. But what is the reason? Different positions have completely different interpretations. As far as management is concerned, "today is not as good as before" can only be attributed to the "separatist" state of multi-campus and has nothing to do with the highly centralized management system. The saying that "one campus is a blessing, but many campuses are a curse" has prevailed in the management field for some time, and even some competent leaders at a considerable level hold this saying. In this case, to change the status quo, of course, we must take the "separatist" state of multi-campus as the starting point. Eliminating "separatist regime" and realizing "unification" have become the top priority of management. When explaining the original intention of "big campus planning", a school leader emphasized that the development goal of Wuhan University of Technology is a first-class university, and a first-class university must first have a first-class campus. There is no doubt that in the eyes of management, a first-class campus must first be a "unified" campus. "Big Campus Planning" is therefore the inevitable development of this logic of "unified war".

However, the original intention of the management was not accepted by Yu Jiatou's teaching staff. In an interview, Professor Yu Jiatou sharply criticized the management's "big campus and petty". He said:

"Now some leaders like to shout slogans, and the small-scale peasant economy is serious. Their ideal state is that four generations live under one roof, the school has a big house, everyone is together, the old people talk, and their children and grandchildren will listen. This is not people-oriented, but leadership-oriented It's the 265,438+0th century, and I still hold this idea. Very strange, there is no problem. "

A petition even expressed disgust at the authoritative statement that "one campus is a blessing and multiple campuses are a curse" and clearly declared: "We think this statement is wrong." According to the letter, the root of the problem is not in multiple campuses, but elsewhere:

"In fact, the current' disaster' in campus management is entirely caused by the merged leaders' insistence on copying the original single-campus centralized management model and requirements into the reality of multi-campuses. Around the world, there are many universities with campuses, many of which are "world-class" or "domestic first-class". Some campuses are located in the whole city, while others are located in several cities. As far as we know, many' world-class' universities are not centralized' big campuses', and the campuses of some world-class universities are not as big as our Yujiatou campus. They all have a good life. Why has our place become a' disaster'? Therefore, the root cause of the "disaster" is that the merged universities in various places are not allowed to proceed from reality and adopt various management systems independently according to their own characteristics, but are forced to realize "five unification", "substantive integration" and "deep integration". "

It should be "federalism" rather than unitary system, and it should be decentralized rather than highly centralized. The dispute over the big campus has finally brought about such a brand-new management idea.

"In fact, this is nothing new. It has been practiced for a long time." Professor Yu Jiatou told the reporter, "Also in Wuhan, the management system of Huazhong University of Science and Technology is completely different from ours. People don't have a single system. Tongji Medical University maintained the secondary college system after it was merged into Huazhong University of Science and Technology. People, money and things are relatively independent, so the development of Tongji has not been affected, and now the development momentum is very good. "

This was confirmed by a former leader of Tongji University. "Our experience lies in not blindly following and not engaging in unconditional merger. Our merger is conditional, that is, to ensure the autonomy of Tongji after the merger. Because after the merger, we have autonomy, less interference, and still have brains, souls, cohesion and no loose sand. Because of this, our Tongji has sprung up in the past two years, from the fourth and fifth rankings of the national medical schools to the second. "

In the past two years, Peking University Medical Center ranked first in medical colleges. Not coincidentally, Peking University Medical College, like Tongji University, remained relatively independent after the merger. The former leader of Tongji asserted:

"This is a rule. After the merger, it remained relatively independent and developed well; Whoever engages in centralization will be in chaos and will not develop. For example, Shanghai Medical University, which has been ranked second in medical colleges, has now fallen behind. "

However, Tongji people are not complacent. On the contrary, they are deeply worried about their prospects. It's not that they don't trust the current decentralization system, but because in their view, the decentralization system is not recognized by the competent authorities at all, so it has no legitimacy and is only a temporary measure in the transitional period. However, Yu Jiatou's faculty and staff do not know these subtle psychological activities of Tongji people, but admire them.

Just as the reporter finished writing, a professor at Yujiatou called to tell him that the planning of the "big campus" was still in full swing. In order to raise funds for the development of the "big campus", Wuhan University of Technology originally planned to sell the three-storey campus with a valuation of more than 250 million yuan to one party at a price of10.50 billion yuan. The two sides are negotiating on this. And the teacher doesn't know about it.

"The merger was a board meeting made by several people behind closed doors and made a big mistake. We can't be so wrong now. The decision-making of colleges and universities is related to the future and destiny of all faculty members. Why can't it be made public to the faculty? " The professor said bitterly.