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| The System of Degree and Graduate Education in China |
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| 2004/05/13 |
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The System of
Degree-conferrin
g Authorization Strict
examination system has been set up for the conferment of
Chinese degrees, including the examinations of
degree-conferring units, degree-conferring disciplines,
degree-conferring specialties and also including authorizing
degree-conferring units to award Master's and doctoral
degree to persons with qualifications equivalent to
postgraduates on graduation. Authorization approval must
stick t0 the principles of " adherence to standards,
strict requirement, guarantee of quality, and
justice".
* The Examination of
Degree-Conferring Units The authorized units must have
certain schvoling quality and accord with the country's
regulations. The main principle is to optimize the structure
and rationalize the distribution in the sight of practical
needs. Higher education institutions have been given
priorities and reform of higher education management has
been pushed forward in the process of degree-conferring
authorization.
The examination of
newly-established Master's and doctoral degree conferring
units shall be conducted every four years. The procedures
are as follows £º
Higher education
institutions or scientific research institutes shall advance
their applications to the higher authorities and finally
submit to the General Office of the Academic Degree
Commission of the State Council for ratification if approved
by the higher authorities. Higher education institutions or
scientific research institutes should first go through the
initial examination for the comprehensive conditions, and
then their disciplines and specialties are subject to
re-examination and approval by the Disciplines Appraising
Groups organized by the Academic Degree Committee of the
State Council£®A new degree-conferring unit comes
into being after the approval of the Academic Degree
Committee of the State Council.
Bachelor's
Degree conferring units Newly-established should be approved
by the academic degree committees of provinces, autonomous
regions and municipalities directly under the central
government or approved by the education committees
£¨ bureaus £© of provinces and
autonomous regions if the academic degree committees have
not been established.
*The Examination of
Degree-Conferring Disciplines
The second grade
disciplines in the Catalog are the basic ones for master's
and doctoral degree conferring disciplines. Some of the
first grade disciplines have been authorized to award
degrees since l995£® The principle is to adhere to
standards and be strict in requirement, in the sight of the
need of Chinese economy, scientific and technological
education, social development and defense
construction.
First grade disciplines and
doctoral degree conferring disciplines are conducted in a
unified way in the country. The examinations of Master's
Degree conferring disciplines are £º a£©
Higher education institutions that have graduate schools can
approve the Master's Degree conferring disciplines
independently within the scope of approved disciplines and
specialties. b) Some provincial academic degree committees
can examine the Master's Degree conferring disciplines
advanced by the degree-conferring units with the approval of
the Academic Degree Committee of the State
Council£® c£© The Academic Degree
Committee of the State Council will organize all the other
examinations except the above-mentional two.
*
The Establishment and Approval of Degree-Conferring
Specialties
With the development of economy and
society, and in view of the need of different kinds of
high-level personnel, the Academic Degree Committee of the
State Council has made decisions to add Master of Business
Administration£¨MBA£©, Degrees of
Architecture £¨Bachelor's and Master's Degree of
Architecture£©, Master's of Law, Master's of
Engineering, Degree's of Clinical Medicine
£¨Doctor's and Master's Degree of Clinical
Medicine£©, Master's of Public Administration
£¨MPA£©, Master's of Agriculture
Spreading £¨provisional£©, Degree's of
Veterinary Medicine £¨Master's and Doctor's of
Veterinary Medicine £©£® In accordance
with the Provisional Measures on the Approval of
Degree-conferring Specialties issued in 1996, the higher
authorities or the higher education institutions together
with the said authorities shall advance the applications
first, then the General Office of the Academic Degree
Committee of the State Council together with some of the
related units organize the experts to evaluate, and the
establishment of degree. conferring specialties shall
finally go through the examination of the Academic Degree
Committee of the State Council.
At present, 56
higher education institutions are authorized to award MBA
with the total graduates of 3026 and a total enrollment of
13890.22 higher education institutions are authorized to
award Master's of Law with a total enrollment of
3628£® 29 higher education institutions are
authorized to award Master's of Education with a total
enrollment of l700£® 43 higher education
institutions are authorized to award Master's of Clinical
Medicine with a total enrollment of l678.23 higher education
institutions are authorized to award Doctor's of Clinical
Medicine.16 higher education institutions are authorized to
award Bachelor's of Architecture with the total graduates of
4000£®12 higher education institutions are
authorized to award Master's of Architecture with the total
graduates of 200. 70 higher education institutions are
authorized to award Master's of Engineering with a total
enrollment of 5690.
* Authorizing Parts of the
Degree-conferring Units to Award Doctor's and Master's
Degree to Persons with Qualifications Equivalent to
Postgraduates on Graduation. The Academic Degree Committee
of the State Council promulgated the Provisional Regulations
Concerning Conferring Master's and Doctor's Degrees to
In-the-service Persons with Qualifications Equivalent to
Postgraduates on Graduation and its implementation measures
in l990£® It was for sake of training high-level
personnel in more aspects and to provide some opportunities
for in-the-service persons without receiving graduate
education. In July, 1998, the Regulations Concerning
Conferring Master's and Doctor's Degrees to Persons with
Qualifications Equivalent to Postgraduates on Graduation was
released by the Academic Degree Committee of the State
Council after practice and ratification. Requirements for
applicants, procedures to admit and confer degrees and
approval of the units to implement such works have been
further stipulated in the Regulations.
A few of
the doctoral degree conferring units with high-level
education and management for postgraduates have been
authorized to confer doctoral degree to persons of the same
educational level£® Doctoral degree conferring
units and some of the Master's Degree conferring units with
good conditions and high-level management are authorized to
confer Master's Degree to persons of the same educational
level.
The System of Graduate
Education
The Levels, Types, Goal and
Requirements of Graduate
EducationChina's
graduate education has two levels---master and doctor. At
each academic level, two kinds of people are trained to meet
the country's different needs £º academic
personnel £¨ for teaching in higher education
institutions and research work £© and applied
personnel £¨ such as masters of business
administration, masters of engineers, masters of education
and clinical doctors£©.
The goal and
requirements of the graduate education is regulated in
accordance with the Regulations of the People's Republic of
China on Academic Degrees and some related education
regulations £º
---Applicants for
doctoral degrees must be master-degree holders or those with
an equivalent education. They must at the same time have the
recommendations of at least two associate professors or
professors who are specialists in the fields concerned. The
length of study for doctoral degree varies form 3 to 5
years. The candidates should be patriotic, moral, ready to
serve the country's construction and well-grounded in basic
theory and have solid and systematic knowledge and related
technique and methods of their respective fields, capable of
going through independent research work£® In
addition to the compulsory courses, they must finish a
dissertation that must be approved and successfully
defended.
--- Applicants for Master's Degrees
must be distinguished undergraduates from universities or
junior college graduates having graduated for more than two
years and having acquired an equivalent educational level of
graduates from universities. The length of study for the
Master's Degree varies from 2 to 3 years. The candidates
should be patriotic, moral, ready to serve the country's
construction and well-grounded in basic theory and have
solid and systematic knowledge and related technique and
methods of their respective fields, capable of carrying out
independent research work£® They must pass the
required examinations and finish a thesis that must be
approved and successfully defended.
Enrollment
The Ministry of
Education directs the enrollment of graduate students and is
responsible for formulating the plan, policy and measures
for the admission. The admission offices of various
institutions are responsible for concrete admissions under
the leadership of the admission committee in each province
and municipality.
The policy and principle for
admission shall be formulated according to the needs of the
economic construction and social development£® The
scale of admission can only be expanded gradually without
sacrificing the quality.
The admission plan is
formulated jointly by the Ministry of Education, the State
Planning Commission and the Ministry of Personnel in the
light of the needs of the country, sources of students,
teaching, research and supervising force of the institutions
concerned as well as financial resources
available.
To guarantee the quality of
teaching, higher education institutions shall be the main
forces in training graduate students, and only their
disciplines and specialties authorized to grant the Master's
or doctoral degrees can enroll corresponding
students.
New candidates must be admitted
according to the principle of "judging the candidates
in an all-round way and selecting the best students who are
good morally, intellectually and physically£»
better leaving a deficiency uncovered than having it covered
with unqualified people." The ratio of in-the-service
students should be gradually increased. Certain regulations
shall be promulgated to encourage outstanding candidates to
apply for the entrance examinations so as to raise the
Quality of entrants.
In the areas of applied
disciplines, the ratio of outstanding in-the-service
candidates with rich practical experiences should be
increased. In order to encourage outstanding in-the-service
people to apply for master level graduate education,
separate examinations should be organized for those
graduates of universities who have worked for more than four
successive years and have excellent performance in their
works after the examination of the universities with the
authorization of the Ministry of Education.
The
Entrance Examinations
The entrance examinations
including preliminary examinations and re-examinations are
used as the main methods of selecting graduate students in
China. The principle, subjects and time of the national
examinations for master candidates are set and arranged in a
unified way by the Ministry of Education, while the time,
places and subjects of re-examinations £¨oral
examination£© are determined by the relevant
institutions. The subjects and time of the entrance
examinations for doctor candidates are all decided by the
institutions. The subjects of pre-examinations for master
candidates are as follows£º political theory,
foreign languages and three professional courses. Among
them, the papers for political theory, foreign languages and
some basic courses are prepared by the Ministry of
Education. As for the entrance examinations for doctor
candidates, all the examination papers, except those of the
political theory and foreign languages, are conducted by the
relevant
institutions.
Training
The length
of course study for master candidates varies from 1 to 1.5
years, and that for doctor candidates,is about 1
year.
The designs of graduate courses should
fully embody the goal and requirements of the training and
characteristics of disciplines and specialties, so that the
postgraduates can obtain a rational knowledge and an
intellectual structure. They must broaden their basic
theoretical and specialized learning. The courses should
reflect the latest achievements, progress and developments
at home and abroad£® More attention should be paid
to new and overlapping courses. The courses for
undergraduates, master and doctor candidates should be
considered in a unified way. Reliance should be placed
mainly on our own institutions in training graduate
students, and all the outstanding cultural and scientific
achievements at home and abroad should be
absorbed.
The doctoral students should have a
firm and comprehensive grasp of basic theories and a
profound, systematic, and specialized knowledge of the
disciplines concerned£® The courses for doctor
candidates, which should be fixed on the basis of the
courses for master candidates, must include the following
three aspects in accordance with the training program
£º a£© The basic theory and laboratory
courses indispensable for broadening the students' basic
knowledge of specialties. b£© The theoretical
writings and documentation necessary for doing the forefront
research work£® c) The courses enabling the
students to take on work in the inter-
disciplines.
The Examination and Evaluation of
Degree and Graduate Education in China
China
has continuously carried out the examination and evaluation
of degree conferring disciplines since 1985£®The
contents include the examination and evaluation on degree
supervisors and academic contingent, level of research,
teaching quality, level of management, level of
dissertations, etc. In l997, 1718 doctoral degree conferring
disciplines and 3814 Master's Degree conferring disciplines
from the former approved were re-examined and re-evaluated
with the consideration of the new catalog of disciplines and
specialties. They account for 66£¥ of the total
doctoral degree conferring disciplines and 40£¥ of
the total Master's Degree conferring disciplines.
The examination and evaluation is organized at
different levels. The Academic Degree Committee of the State
Council organizes the examination and evaluation of doctoral
programs in conjunction with the responsible higher
authorities. The Committee may also entrust commissions and
departments concerned to conduct the examination and
evaluation of those master's and doctoral programs in some
special professional fields. With the entrust of the
Academic Degree Committee of the State Council, the
examination and evaluation can also be carried out by
provincial academic degree committees. If problem exists, a
deadline must be set for streamlining. If the said
disciplines and specialties failed to meet the requirement,
their degree-conferring rights may be suspended or
revoked.
The Agency of Evaluation of Degrees
and Graduate Education in Higher Education Institutions and
Scientific Research Institutes is in charge of the
implementation of examination and evaluation. The Academic
Degree Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of
Education are responsible for formulating principles,
policies and tasks of evaluation and ratification of
evaluation results.
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