The Idea of Learning Communities in Chinese and Western Academy Systems: Historical Evolution and Modern Transformation
Abstract
selected scholarship in educational history, higher education studies, and learning community theory, the paper argues that Chinese and Western academy systems both cultivated forms of communal learning, but they did so through different institutional logics. Chinese shuyuan emphasized moral cultivation, classical study, scholarly autonomy, teacher-student intimacy, and the integration of education, research, and book
collection. Western academy and collegiate traditions emphasized residential association, tutorial interaction, civic formation, disciplinary
specialization, and institutional governance. In modern higher education, these historical resources have been reinterpreted through residential
colleges, honors colleges, interdisciplinary learning communities, general education programs, and student-centered academic support systems. The review finds that the contemporary value of academy-based learning communities lies not in restoring historical institutions as fixed
models, but in translating their core principlesshared inquiry, ethical formation, dialogic pedagogy, residential or semi-residential belonging, and cross-disciplinary integrationinto flexible structures suitable for mass, digital, and global higher education.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/neet.v4i7.9780
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