The aim of this study is to explore the development of the Academies in the Sung dynasty. Previous researches have suggested that the academy education in the Southern Sung was related to the teaching ideal of morality. The main question of this study is: Was the nature of academy education purely related to morality? In the early years of the Northern Sung Dynasty, the government school system failed to respond to people’s educational needs, therefore academies became a supplemental institutions to it. The official attaches importance to the intellectuals, and the academies and the imperial examination were closely related. From the objective of Yingtianfu Academy, the Qingli Reform to improve the government school system, and even lectures by three masters in the early Sung Dynasty, the academies were aimed at the ideal political situation.
Since the Northern Sung, Neo-Confucianism and Academies have developed at the same time. In the Southern Sung, the aims of academy education had performed different patterns, including: "Learning for yourself", or "Learning for being an official". In addition, this study also explores the factors that influence the development of the Academy in the Sung Dynasty, such as the Neo-Confucianism, the Classics movement, Buddhism and Taoism, the scholars’ life in academies, and imperial examinations, and discusses their relationship with the Academy education.