BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 168 Dilemma, Opportunities and Countermeasures of Adult Higher Education in Colleges and Universities in China under the Background of "Double First-class" Construction Gang Liu College of Continuing Education, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. gangliu@njfu. edu. cn Abstract. The construction of "double first-class" has brought new opportunities and challenges to the development of adult higher education in Colleges and universities in china. For the healthy development of adult higher education in Colleges and universities in china, this paper first studies the development dilemma of adult higher education. It is found that under the background of "double first-class" construction, "to go or to stay", "to scale or to quality" has become a realistic problem that must be considered in adult higher education. Then, starting from the specific deployment of the "double first-class" construction and the basic functions of colleges and universities, this paper studies the relationship between adult higher education and the double first-class construction. The results show that the relationship between the development of adult higher education and the construction of "double first-class" in Colleges and universities is closely linked and complementary. Finally, this paper expounds the ways of developing adult higher education innovatively from the aspects of development orientation, school-running concept, education and teaching. Keywords: "double first-class" construction; Adult higher education; Connotative development. 1. Introduction In January 2017, the Interim Measures for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines (Interim) issued by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, and the list of first-class Universities and Disciplines was published in the same year. The construction of "double first-class" is a long-term plan for the high-quality development of colleges and universities at the national level in china, guiding the direction of running colleges and universities. As an important part of Higher education in China, the development of adult higher education in colleges and universities plays an important role in improving higher education and building a modern education system of lifelong learning. However, there are some major problems in adult higher education, such as lack of characteristics and low quality, which seriously hinders the healthy development of adult higher education in Colleges and universities. With the continuous advancement of the construction of "double first-class" in colleges and universities, adult higher education is facing new challenges and opportunities. This paper studies the dilemma and opportunities of adult higher education in colleges and universities in china, and makes a detailed exploration of the innovative development of adult higher education. 2. Dilemma of Adult Higher Education in Chinese Colleges and Universities At present, the training plan of adult higher education in Colleges and universities is copied from ordinary higher education, and the teaching content is too theoretical and lack of practicality. The teaching method of adult higher education is mainly classroom teaching, which can not effectively solve the contradiction between students' work and study. Professional teachers in adult higher education are in serious shortage and are not familiar with the teaching rules of adult higher education, which leads to unsatisfactory teaching effects. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, "scale or quality" is a realistic problem that must be considered in adult higher education[1]. Due to the influence of the school-running concept of general higher education, adult higher education in colleges and universities emphasizes large and comprehensive in the process of running BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 169 schools, laying particular stress on the integrity of disciplines, resulting in the lack of characteristics in specialty settings. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, "comprehensive or characteristic" has become an important choice on its development path, which is the internal cause of the dilemma faced by the development of adult higher education in Colleges and universities. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, the education focus of colleges and universities has become world-class universities and first-class disciplines construction. Some colleges and universities have actively or passively compressed the development space of adult higher education. In recent years, some colleges and universities have reduced the scale of adult higher education. "To stay or to go" has become the primary problem of adult higher education. 3. Opportunities for Adult Higher Education in Chinese Colleges and Universities under the Background of "Double First-class" Construction Under the background of "double first-class" construction, the primary problem faced by adult higher education in Colleges and universities should study where to go, whether to make concessions for "double first-class" construction or jointly build with "double first-class". In order to study this problem, we can study the relationship between the construction of "double first-class" and the development of adult higher education from three aspects: the basic functions of colleges and universities, the specific policies of "double first-class" construction and the needs of social development. Higher education is one of the important social activities. The development of society is bound to have a profound impact on the development of higher education. Adult higher education is an important part of higher education. Therefore, every reform and development of economy and society directly affects the development of adult higher education. With the rapid development of economy, culture, science and technology in modern society and the acceleration of knowledge renewal, people can adapt to the development of society only through continuous learning. Adult higher education in Colleges and universities is an important way to update people's knowledge structure. The Outline of the National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) puts forward "accelerating the development of continuing education". The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out: "Do a good job in continuing education and speed up the construction of a learning society". Adult higher education in colleges and universities is an important part of continuing education and one of the important ways to build a learning society. Therefore, the development of adult higher education is an inevitable requirement of China's social development and the construction of a learning society. The basic function of higher education is to cultivate talents, develop science and serve the society[2]. In Colleges and universities, adult higher education and full-time academic education are important parts of higher education, and their ultimate purpose is to meet people's needs for higher education. Cultivating talents is the most basic function of adult higher education. At the same time, adult higher education has always been one of the important windows and bridges for colleges and universities to serve the society, and serving the society has always been regarded as the characteristic function of adult higher education. It can be seen that the development of adult higher education is the requirement for colleges and universities to practice the basic functions of higher education. Adult higher education in colleges and universities is flexible and open. It is an important base for the combination of production, teaching and research, which is conducive to the development of scientific research and the transformation of scientific research achievements. With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength and the development of higher education, international exchanges have become another basic function of adult higher education in colleges and universities. Through international cooperation and exchanges in adult higher education, the world can know China and understand Chinese culture in time. Let chinese higher education achievements go to the world. As mentioned in the Interim Measures for Promoting the Construction of World- class Universities and First-class Disciplines (Interim), the fundamental goal of "double first-class" BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 170 construction is to comprehensively enhance the comprehensive strength of China's higher education in personnel training, scientific research, social services, cultural heritage and innovation, and international exchanges and cooperation. It can be seen that the starting point and ultimate goal of developing adult higher education in colleges and universities are consistent with the construction of "double first-class" in talent training, serving the society and international exchanges. In short, the development of adult higher education is an inevitable requirement for colleges and universities to serve the society, cultivate talents, build a learning society and enhance international exchanges and cooperation. Whether from the needs of social development or from the goals and requirements of the "double first-class" construction, the relationship between the development of adult higher education in Colleges and universities and the "double first-class" construction is not contradictory, but closely connected and complementary. The construction of "double first-class" provides active guidance and support for adult higher education in the direction of development, teachers, reform and innovation, and promotes the development of adult higher education towards high quality. The high-quality development of adult higher education provides financial support and new power engine for the construction of "double first-class" in improving the construction of first- class disciplines, enhancing social service capacity, and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. 4. Development Countermeasures of Adult Higher Education in Colleges and Universities under the Background of "Double First-class" Construction 4.1 Scientific development orientation The orientation of running a school refers to the main direction of running a school in general. Inaccurate or unscientific orientation will directly lead to the deviation of the direction of running a school[3]. The orientation of running a school is not invariable, but will change with the development of society. In the development of adult higher education, colleges and universities should first change their development ideas and specify a scientific school running orientation. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, the fundamental goal of adult higher education in Colleges and universities towards high-level and high-quality development is to build a world-class adult higher education specialty. However, at present, adult higher education in colleges and universities is facing such contradictions. The current educational level and quality of adult higher education can no longer meet the growing demand for high-level and high-quality adult higher education. At the same time, the lack of characteristics is also an important deficiency of adult higher education at present. Many colleges and universities pursue large and complete majors, but ignore the characteristics. Therefore, during the development of adult higher education, in order to realize the high-quality development of adult higher education in colleges and universities, colleges and universities should seize the opportunity of "double first-class" construction, regard the construction of first-class adult higher education as an important development direction in the construction of "double first-class", and rely on the advantages of schools and first-class disciplines to create first- class adult higher education specialties with characteristics. 4.2 Coordinated development of scale, quality and efficiencys General higher education and adult higher education are both important forms of running schools in colleges and universities. They have both similarities and differences. General higher education is a full-time academic education, which is highly institutionalized and has obvious planning, so it seems that the flexibility of running a school is not enough, and it has become a short board in running a school of general higher education. Adult higher education takes adults as the object of education. It focuses on supplementing knowledge and imparting skills, updating knowledge structure, and has the characteristics of openness, diversity and flexibility. It can be seen that adult higher education in colleges and universities and general higher education have their own characteristics and are BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 171 complementary. But in terms of the essence of education, both of them are important components of lifelong education. This will not change because of their respective school-running characteristics or other differences, so there is no essential difference between the two forms of education. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, in order to better build first-class universities and disciplines, and to develop adult higher education with high quality, colleges and universities should make full use of two different educational resources to complement each other's advantages. Give full play to the respective characteristics of the two forms of education, promote development by coordination, adhere to the concept of overall development, and promote the organic integration of adult higher education and general higher education. The benefits of running a school include economic benefits and social benefits. Economic benefit is the basis of running a school, which cannot be ignored. However, if we only pay attention to economic benefit, adult higher education will lose its basic function of talent training and serving the society. The social benefit of running adult higher education in Colleges and universities is to meet the educational needs of the people, which is the essence of adult higher education in Colleges and universities and the root of its value return. From this point of view, adult higher education in Colleges and universities is a non-profit educational activity. In the development of adult higher education, economic and social benefits are a whole. Ignoring or paying too much attention to one of them will lead to deviation from the correct direction and loss of the foundation of running a school. Only by adhering to the coordinated development of economic and social benefits can we ensure the sustainability of adult higher education in Colleges and universities. At present, the scale of adult higher education in Colleges and universities is growing, but the quality of talent training is declining, which is caused by paying too much attention to the development scale. Whether adult higher education can be recognized by the society completely depends on the training quality. Therefore, in the process of the development of adult higher education, we should take improving the training quality as the fundamental task. Coordinate the relationship between scale and quality, expand the scale on the basis of ensuring the training quality, and improve the training quality on the basis of stabilizing the scale[4]. 4.3 Improve the quality of talent training "Deepening the reform of education and teaching and adhering to the development of connotation" is put forward in the Interim Measures for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines (Interim). One of the fundamental tasks of higher education is to cultivate talents. The quality of adult higher education in colleges and universities determines the future development of adult higher education. If the quality of training can not be guaranteed, adult higher education will become a tool for profit. This violates the original intention of adult higher education, so ensuring the quality of training is the most important link in the development of adult higher education. In the face of scale and quality, the first choice is quality, so under the background of "double first-class" construction, adult higher education should adhere to the connotative development. In the process of developing adult higher education, colleges and universities should take the initiative to face the market, activate the vitality of running schools, maintain rapid growth in scale, adjust professional settings according to social needs, optimize teaching methods relying on information technology, and further improve the quality of talent training. 4.4 Building a contingent of teachersof Adult Higher Education The construction of first-class teaching staff is an important part of the "double first-class" construction task. In the process of building first-class adult higher education specialty, first-class teaching staff is one of the key factors to ensure the quality of adult higher education, so colleges and universities should actively promote the construction of adult higher education teachers. Firstly, through policy guidance, to implement the general requirements of the General Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era, we should incorporate the teaching and achievements of adult higher education into the school assessment indicators, encourage teachers to BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 172 participate in adult higher education, strengthen relevant training for teachers, cultivate their market awareness and practical training ability, and establish a group of teachers with both theoretical and practical abilities. Secondly, we should invite experts from outside the school to give lectures, attract excellent adult higher education teachers, technical leaders and management backbone from home and abroad to adult higher education in our country, and establish a mixed teacher management model of full-time and part-time teachers. Finally, we should strengthen the construction of teachers'morality and style. 4.5 Innovating the teaching contentof Adult Higher Education Cultivating first-class innovative talents is an important part of the construction of "double first- class". In the process of training, we should not only rely on the cultivation of incremental first-class talents, but also attach importance to the cultivation of stock talents, and adult higher education is of great significance to the cultivation of stock talents. In order to cultivate a good stock of talents, the setting of teaching content is very important. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, adult higher education in colleges and universities should keep up with social development when choosing teaching content, take novelty and practicability as the principle, so that students can grasp the latest technology in time, update their knowledge structure, and lay a foundation for cultivating innovative talents. 4.6 Optimizing teaching methodsof Adult Higher Education Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, many traditional offline teaching can not be suspended or cancelled, so that colleges and universities realize the importance of optimizing teaching mode and teaching methods, in fact, "Internet +" thinking has gradually penetrated into all walks of life, and the new information construction of education in China has made some progress. However, the reform of teaching mode and method in adult higher education obviously lags behind the development of the times. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, colleges and universities should speed up the information construction of adult higher education, optimize teaching methods, and build a mixed teaching mode combining offline teaching with online teaching. 4.7 Combination of production and learningof Adult Higher Education The combination of production and learning in adult higher education is a win-win school-running mode of cooperation between schools and enterprises, which can not only provide enterprises with the renewal of talent knowledge structure, but also provide technical support for enterprises, and is conducive to the stable school-running scale of adult higher education. In the Measures (Interim), it is proposed that production, teaching and research should be deeply integrated to achieve cooperation in running schools and educating people. As can be seen,In the construction of "double first-class", great importance is attached to the cooperative education between industry and university, which is not only an innovation of talent training mode, but also an important grasp to enhance the ability to serve the society, as well as an important platform to promote the transformation of scientific research achievements. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, colleges and universities should unite scientific research institutes, industry enterprises and other units to build industry- university-research cooperation bases. To provide support for employees to update their knowledge structure, to promote cooperation in scientific research projects, to promote the transformation of scientific research achievements through cooperation in scientific research projects, and to make their own contributions to the overall improvement of the comprehensive strength of scientific research in higher education in China. 4.8 Internationalization of running schoolsof Adult Higher Education Under the background of "double first-class" construction, adult higher education in colleges and universities should actively promote internationalization and enhance international influence. As a window and bridge for foreign exchange, the internationalization of adult higher education is one of BCP Education & Psychology EED 2022 Volume 5 (2022) 173 the important paths for China's higher education from introduction to going out. In the past, China's higher education lacked experience in running schools. Reasonable introduction of foreign experience in running schools is of guiding significance to the development of China's higher education. Nowadays, with the development of China's higher education, showing China's educational achievements to the world and providing solutions to the development problems of higher education in the world are the embodiment of Chinese higher education's courage to assume international responsibility. As a communication platform, the internationalization of adult higher education in colleges and universities can well publicize the progress and achievements of adult higher education in China. Through international cooperation and exchanges, it can not only introduce foreign advanced school-running experience and promote the construction of first-class education brand in adult higher education, but also bring our development experience, management experience, scientific and technological development and excellent traditional culture to the world. Demonstrate China's comprehensive national strength and provide China's strength for world higher education and adult higher education. 5. Summary The construction of "double first-class" promotes the development of adult higher education in colleges and universities towards high quality. Under the background of "double first-class" construction, in order to carry out the adult higher education innovatively, colleges and universities should seize the opportunity, adhere to the connotative development, construct the teaching staff, innovate the teaching content and optimize the teaching methods, improve the quality of talent training, and enhance the ability to serve the society. At the same time, colleges and universities should renew their school-running ideas, rely on their characteristics, create first-class adult higher education major, strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, improve the international influence of China's adult higher education, adhere to open cooperation, deepen the combination of industry, education and research, and speed up the transformation of scientific research achievements. Acknowledgment This work was supported by the adult higher education research project of Adult Higher Education Research Association of Higher Education Society of Jiangsu Province, China in 2021 (Project No. : cjy-1). References [1] LiuYangxi, and Zhou Zhiyan, et al. “Opportunities, difficulties and paths for the development of adult higher education in the new era,”Journal of Hubei Institute of adult education. Vol. 26(2020). p. 55-59. [2] Pan Maoyuan, and Wang Weikang, Higher Education. Fuzhou, Fujian Education Press,2013,p49. [3] Wang Zha, et al. “A review of the research on the transformation and development path of Adult Higher Education,”Journal of Northwest Institute of adult education,2020(01). p29-35. [4] Liu Gang, et al. “New ideas for the development of adult higher education in colleges and universities under the background of lifelong education,”Adult Education. Vol. 40(2019). p. 6-10.