Contributing to Sustainable Development—The Mission and Value of Higher Education

Some notes on sustainable development and scientific outlook on development were given．It is addressed that the mission of higher education to contribute to sustainable development should be reinforced and further expanded．The present situation of China’s higher education and the improvements required were analyzed．Two modes of thinking（reductionism and holism）and the relationship between the mode of thinking and the mode of development were discussed．The change in the mode of thinking is the key point for Chinese higher education,and more intensive reform of teaching affairs is necessary．A proposal of the revision of China’s Higher Education Act and University Constitutions was put forward．