I. Discipline, an Important Cornerstone of Modern University Development

(I) Connotation of discipline

Undoubtedly, there are different interpretations about the concept, definition, connotation, function, and other aspects of discipline. It's generally believed that discipline is a basic cell in the university, a basic unit for effective functioning of the university, and a basic element for accelerated construction of the excellent university. The term “discipline” stems from Indo-European roots. It is “Disciplina” in Latin, “Discipline” in English, and “Disiziplin” in German, all of which were derived therefrom[1] . “Discipline” in English has multiple meanings, including discipline, academic areas, courses, curriculum, discipline and punishment, criteria, commandment, constraint, etc.

Different scholars have different understandings of the concept of“discipline” . H. Heckhausen, a scholar, concluded after empirical analysis that discipline should mean special scientific research on similar problems with an aim to promote the theory systematization and knowledge renewal[2] . Anthony Biglan classified discipline in terms of the research object and exploration orientation and in correspondence to different locations in four intervals[3] . Burton R. Clark stated that “discipline is obviously a special organization mode for linkage between chemists, between psychologists, and between historians” and “what dominates scholars' work and life is not the university but discipline” [4] . Other scholars have argued that discipline must meet the following conditions: A professional organization, unique language system, special research strategy, and specific rules[5] . As mentioned above, discipline can be basically defined in two ways: Firstly, in terms of knowledge production and learning, discipline refers to a result of understanding, knowledge or a knowledge system, a branch of knowledge, and a research activity for a specific object by subjecting to common paradigm; secondly, in terms of academic organization management, discipline refers to an academic institution subject to certain standards, established through certain procedures, and with a clear knowledge boundary and function scope. In the university system, discipline is an organizational unit responsible for profound knowledge dissemination and development management.

For either knowledge production or academic organization management, discipline is defined based on the division of knowledge units. The discipline system classification is conducted mainly for the following three purposes: Firstly, it sets up an example[6] . An independent discipline has its unique research paradigm, knowledge system, institution, culture, etc. Discipline is used to facilitate the understanding and exploration of profound knowledge in a specialized field, which reflects the degree of maturity of discipline development to some extent. Secondly, it provides guidance. Specifically, it plays a catalogue guidance or standard role in talent training and discipline construction in universities, and thus is used in educational management work such as discipline construction, educational statistics and classification, assessment and evaluation. Thirdly, it provides the indexing service. Here, it means indexed discipline classification that some journal and periodical data companies implement to achieve information retrieval, record, and quantitative analysis functions of their own database. For example, Clarivate has conducted statistical analysis for 22 disciplines by using available data resources. Some ranking agencies carry out the indexed discipline classification by using those databases, which provides a basis for their ranking.

The objectives and standards of the division of knowledge units depend on their respective education system, so there are quite different discipline classifications. For instance, the discipline catalogue in the United States is prepared by National Center for Education Statistics and is mainly used for educational statistics. In its 2020 version published by the U. S. Department of Education, there are 48 discipline groups, and more than 450 second-level disciplines[7] . The discipline catalogue in China is prepared under the organization of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education of the PRC, as a fundamental basis for academic degree authorization and examination, discipline management, and academic degree awarding units to award academic degrees and train talents. In 2018, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education of the PRC updated the catalogue that published in February 2011. In the updated catalogue, there is a total of 13 discipline categories and 111 first-level disciplines.

With scientific and technological progress, social development, and the interaction between the ecological environment for disciplines and its internal tension, discipline has become a clear but evolving and changing concept and the existing mature disciplines have experienced continuous divergence, combination and reproduction and gone beyond the scope of their respective discipline catalogue to create new possibilities for the development of new and cross disciplines. This is an inevitable law of discipline development and a manifestation of vitality. Since the 1970s, the international community has theoretically studied the laws and methods of cross disciplines[8] . However, there are still many difficulties and challenges in interdisciplinary or cross-discipline understanding and the evaluation and recognition mechanism.

(II) Discipline and university construction

Discipline is a basic academic unit in a university. Discipline construction involves every aspect of university. That is, a university first builds a discipline ecosystem dominated by different disciplines, then develops it into an academic ecosystem, next forms its own characteristics, and finally obtains a unique competitive edge. Discipline construction and development bring about great benefits and significance to university development, which is mainly reflected in the following.

Firstly, discipline construction and development lay an important foundation for university development. University discipline is not only an academic category, but also a basic organizational unit in the university and a specific undertaker of the functioning of the university. It can be seen mainly in two aspects: First of all, it guides moral character development among students. Ideological and political education and professional ethics education run through the teaching of any discipline, like medical workers should heal the wounded and rescue the dying. Teachers' ethics and daily teaching activities constantly shape and improve students' characters and morals. Besides, it develops students'thinking ways and professional abilities. Discipline paradigm training is provided for students to develop values, thinking habits and professional abilities specific to relevant disciplines. Discipline is the soil for scientific research. High-level scientific research first must target at a frontier discipline[9] and gather top-level scholars to solve scientific problems. Any scientific research on university discipline is not isolated, instead, it stresses the consistency between scientific research and talent training. Teachers carry out research activities to impart cutting-edge theories and knowledge to students, while students participate in scientific research activities to master independent knowledge acquisition methods and develop knowledge exploration hobbies and habits. Meanwhile, discipline talent training and scientific research focally meet the requirements of national development strategies and support universities to serve society.

Secondly, discipline development level is an important measure for university strength. Generally recognized, unique and excellent disciplines often form the main features of universities with great educational strength and a good social reputation. For strategic development, foreign and domestic universities now choose to focus on discipline construction and highlight key and characteristic disciplines in general. For example, the University of California Berkeley originally had 14 schools and more than 100 departments. With balanced disciplines and insignificant characteristics, it was never rated as one of the world-class universities. Later, it adjusted policies, focused on the development of biological atomic engineering, and encouraged teachers to conduct researches concerning biological atomic engineering in any other discipline as far as possible. After years of effords, the University of California Berkeley has made its biological atomic engineering the best one in the world and become famous therefore[10] . All foreign and domestic famous universities have their own characteristics and key disciplines and thus enjoy a higher reputation globally. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is famous for the first-class engineering science and computer science, Harvard University is famous for politics and business administration, Peking University has the most outstanding humanities and sciences, Tsinghua University has the best engineering and business administration disciplines, and Renmin University of China has excellent humanities and social sciences.

Thirdly, Chinese universities, based on discipline construction, have been forming their own characteristics and advantages. In China, discipline construction is closely related to university development, especially state-level key construction projects such as “Project 211” , “Project 985” , and “Double First-Class” Initiative, each with discipline construction as an important tool. Universities, particularly research universities, deem discipline construction as the pioneer and trailblazer in their development. With practical exploration and rapid development of higher education in China, a “trinity” development mode for discipline construction has been gradually formed with talent training, scientific research and social service as three pillars, to support continuous university development. The basic task for universities is to take the training of students' virtue as the fundamental. Discipline is based on its specific structural paradigm, knowledge system, cultural atmosphere, etc. and thus provides educational orientation for talent training and development. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Implementation of “Double First-Class” Initiative in Colleges and Universities issued by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission states that efforts shall be made to strengthen connotation improvement, develop a batch of first-class disciplines, and make plans and arrangements for defining discipline construction connotation, highlighting discipline advantages and characteristics, expanding discipline education functions, building a high-level discipline team or echelon, gathering high-end talents, motivating the teams, enhancing their discipline innovation abilities, developing an innovative discipline organization mode, etc. The Several Opinions on Promoting Discipline Integration and Accelerating Artificial Intelligence Postgraduate Training in Colleges and Universities under the“Double First-Class” Initiative states that colleges and universities are encouraged to make overall budget planning, support the construction of AI-related disciplines, develop discipline advantages and characteristics step by step, and promote the penetration and integration of AI into more disciplines.

Facing international competition in the context of globalization, countries seek breakthroughs in the construction of first-class disciplines, and introduce major construction strategies to advance the construction of first-class disciplines and improve their own comprehensive educational strength and competitiveness. For example, Japan launched the Global Center of Excellence (COE) Project in 2007, mainly to support ten discipline groups and doctoral candidate programs in competitive disciplines such as life science, medicine, humanities, cross disciplines, and new disciplines[11] . The Initiatives d'Excellence in France and the Exzellenzinitiative in Germany are also important projects designed to promote discipline construction. In 2015, the Overall Plan for Coordination and Advancement of Construction of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines was issued in China to clearly require taking discipline as the fundamental, stress the guidance and support for optimization of discipline structures in colleges and universities, define the right discipline development direction, highlight priorities in discipline construction, develop innovative discipline organization model, and build more discipline peaks, to improve advantages and characteristics of universities. Obviously, discipline construction is the foundation and driving force for university development. High-level universities all are backed by high-level disciplines. Universities without first-class disciplines cannot be regarded as world-class.