Higher education is a discipline that studies the phenomenon of higher education figures, thoughts, systems, activities, and its development problems and operational laws. It is also a discipline with Chinese characteristics that is expected to build a worldclass discipline. On the basis of analyzing the historical opportunities for the construction of worldclass disciplines of Chinese universities and colleges, the article systematically reviews the century transformation in higher education from the field to the disciplines, especially analysis its development achievements, development gaps and development advantages, then constructs the discriminative standard of the worldclass discipline of higher education from talent cultivation, scientific research, social services, cultural creation, international exchange and carries out a simple verification, finally proposes the future structure of the worldclass discipline construction of higher education, which is to promote the construction of the firstlevel discipline of higher education, undertake the mission of the new era of higher education, and continue to build a higher education school of thought with Chinese characteristics, which will help to resolve the “discipline crisis” and become“mature discipline”, then play a better theory supporting and practice guiding role in the realizing of the modernization of the Chinese Higher Education 2035.

education modernization; higher education study; university and college; worldclass discipline; education school of thought; academic community