清華老校長梅貽琦先生曾說過：“所謂大學者，非謂有大樓之謂也，有大師之謂也。”清華大學之所以著名，正是因為她在創建以來的一百多年中，聘請了眾多有影響的學術大師，也為社會培養了眾多的知名學者、科學家和工程師。這些兢兢業業躬耕於杏壇的清華教育者，在中國近現代教育從起步到逐漸走向成熟的過程中，當之無愧地承擔了領跑者的角色，主要體現在三個方面：一是培養並選拔優秀學生赴海外攻讀學位，並努力引進學成歸國的畢業生；二是在教學中逐步建立起完整、系統、科學及與世界接軌的課程框架；三是積極翻譯國外教材並進一步編纂適合本國教育現狀的中文教材。這些帶有實驗性的教育實踐，最終促成了中國教育學科建設的現代化和全球化。

As Mei Yiqi, the former president of Tsinghua, put it: “What makes a university a university are its great masters, not its impressive buildings.” Over the last century, Tsinghua University has employed numerous influential and celebrated scholars, scientists ,and engineers as professors, who have helped the university earn its reputation. Tsinghua scholars and teachers took the lead in the development of a modern Chinese educational system, helping it gradually grow into maturity, and conscientiously helping develop the talents of the younger generation who could improve society. These scholars three main goals were: first, to cultivate excellent students to study abroad and place those returning; second, to establish an education curriculum that was complete, systematic, and connected to the world; third, to translate foreign teaching materials into Chinese and gather Chinese teaching materials appropriate for Chinese students. These educational practices allowed for the construction of a modern and international educational system in China.