In l978, with the implementation of Chinese reform and open policy, and with the overall recovery and development of education and science, graduate education was restored after 12 years broken. Over 63, 000 persons throughout the country applied for graduate studies that year and 10,000 were admitted after the strict examinations.

The total enrollment of the postgraduates had reached 21,000 by 1980. The Standing Committee of National People's Congress approved the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Academic Degrees in 1980. In 1981, the State Council approved the Provisional Measures for Implementing the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Academic Degrees in which the academic standards are regulated for three grades of academic degrees £º Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree and Doctor's Degree. The degree system has been set up from then on, which has strongly promoted the quality of graduate education, and standardized and systematic management. According to the Regulations and Provisional Measures, Bachelor's Degree shall be conferred after the undergraduate study, and Master's and Doctor's Degree shall be conferred in the period of the graduate study.

The Catalog of Disciplines and Specialties of Conferring Doctor's and Master's Degrees and of Postgraduate Training was approved by the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and pro-State Education Commission, the Ministry of Education at present. It serves as an important basis for defining specialties, for the admission and training of postgraduates, and for degree conferment. In the Catalog 1997, there are altogether 12 major fields including Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Agronomy, and Medicine, 88 first grade disciplines and 382 second grade disciplines.

A list of units that may admit doctoral students and confer doctoral degrees and their disciplines, specialties, supervisors were regulated for the first time in 1981. With the approval of the State Council, the educational authorities concerned printed the Provisional Regulations on Admission of Doctoral Students in 1982, followed by a series of regulations formulated by the pro-State Education Commission and the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council on the training goal, length of study, training program and plan, degree examinations and requirements for dissertations. The training units have selected and confirmed supervisors for doctoral students since l995 in the process of making admitting and training plans.

The Guidelines for the Education Reform and Development in China jointly promulgated by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council in l993 made certain regulations for the concrete target of the higher education development in China. The higher education institutions shall educate specialized personnel to meet the requirement of the economic, scientific and technological development. Resources shall be mustered on running well. Some key universities and specialties high-level specialized personnel shall be primarily trained in domestic institutions. There shall be obvious improvement of education quality and profits, science and technology. According to the target, the pro-State Education Commission promulgated a series of regulations in 1995, such as Suggestions on the Improvement and Enhancement of Graduate Education. Basic policies have been raised in these regulations for the reform and improvement of graduate education. Concrete arrangement has been made simultaneously for the development scale and speed of graduate education, for structural optimization, for promotion of postgraduates' quality, for base construction, for perfecting examination and evaluation system and for strengthening the work of leadership during the period of the ninth five-year-plan.

1. A number of bachelors, masters and doctors have been trained in domestic institutions independently and a group of qualified high-level personnel have been transferred for the modernization construction in China. We have awarded since the implementation of the Regulations 43,000 Doctoral Degrees, 430,000 Master's Degrees, and about 4,600,000 Bachelor's Degrees. The number of Doctoral Degrees awarded to persons of the equivalent educational levels has reached 578 and the number of Master's Degrees awarded to persons of the equivalent educational levels has reached 21,599. The conferred degrees cover Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Agronomy, Medicine, and Military Science. There was a total enrollment of 199,000 postgraduates of which 45,000 enrolled in doctoral programs by the end of August, 1998. The ratio of enrollment of undergraduates and graduates stands at 11% in 1998. The total number of graduates will be over 200,000 by 2000.

The development of degree and graduate education in China has fundamentally changed the structure of its higher education. It substantiates various teaching forces and education conditions. It contributes a lot to the establishment of a characteristic, independent and complete higher education system. The tertiary levels of education provided by short-cycle courses or schools, undergraduate courses, and postgraduate programs promote and adjust each other, leading to a new face of Chinese higher education, which is a big leap in the history of Chinese higher education. In 1997, the number of the teachers with graduate degrees in the higher education institutions was 114,000. The proportion has increased from 7% in 1984 to 28% in 1997. Postgraduates, especially doctoral students have been an indispensable and the most active new force in the field of science and technology.

2. A system of degree conferment encompassing all disciplines and specialties and the guarantee of degree quality has taken shape due to adhering to the standards.

With the policy of "adherence to standards, strict requirement, guarantee of quality, and justice", we have examined and verified Master's and Doctoral degree conferring units and their disciplines and specialties for seven times in China. Now, there are 323 units which can offer Doctoral degrees, of which 276 units are higher education institutions, and l827 doctoral programs, of which 1427 programs are in higher education institutions. There are 685 institutions which can offer Master's Degrees, of which 539 are universities and colleges, and 8575 master-level programs, of which 7119 are in universities and colleges. There are 584 regular higher education institutions and 81 military higher education institutions that are authorized to confer Bachelor's Degree. Since 1996, the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council has expanded the scope of degree conferment from the second grade disciplines to some first grade disciplines with a high academic level, strong comprehensive education forces, well-trained postgraduates in some qualified Master's and Doctoral degree conferring units in the process of evaluating the first grade disciplines. At present, the number of the units whose first grade disciplines can confer doctoral degree has reached 134, of which 103 are higher education institutions. The number of the first grade disciplines which can offer doctoral programs has reached 383 of which 331 are of higher education institutions.

3. Measures have been taken to construct training bases for high-level personnel, which can not only be teaching centers, but also research centers.

Master-level postgraduates have been admitted and trained in all the 382 disciplines and specialties mentioned in the Catalog of Disciplines and Specialties of Conferring Doctor's Degree and Master's Degree and of Postgraduates Training. All the relevant commissions and departments of the Central Government, provinces and cities have taken measures to strengthen the construction of the authorized specialties in order to build up training bases for high-level personnel. In 1987, pro-State Education Commission selected 416 disciplines designated as priorities and given greater support from all the doctoral degree conferring disciplines and specialties in the country's higher education institutions. 300 Master's and doctoral degree conferring disciplines and specialties have been designated as key ones. Since "Project 211" was first implemented in 1994. In 1995, 33 higher education institutions including Beijing University were approved formally to form graduate schools after long terms of experiment. It was in the sight of mustering manpower, material and financial resources to support a group of key training bases for postgraduates, to promote the development of teaching research, and to accumulate experiences to strengthen the leadership and management and of graduate education. Thus the overall promotion of quality and profits of domestic graduate education has been spurned on. We are making efforts to keep a team of high-level and capable forces of science, research and teaching in the field of basic disciplines including natural sciences and social sciences. We are trying to form some comparatively centralized training bases. We are working hard on the training of basic research personnel to represent the country's level. At the same time, the training of practical and compound personnel in the field of modernization construction and practical disciplines shall be speeded to meet the need of the progress of socialist market economy. For the time being, a network of training bases encompassing basically all branches of learning, powerful supervisors and sturdy research techniques has been established.

4. Remarkable achievements have made in the international exchange and cooperation in degree and graduate education.

In 1988, the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council promulgated the Provisional Regulations on conferring honorable Doctor's Degrees to Foreigners. 80 persons abroad had been conferred the honorable Doctor's Degrees by April, 1999. The conferment of the honorable doctoral degree has promoted the international and regional exchange and cooperation in Chinese education, science and technology, culture and sports. It has also played a positive role in the progress of Chinese education and foreign affairs.

The Regulations on Conferring Chinese Degrees to International Students in Higher Education Institutions was adopted at the l0th meeting of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council. More than 330 institutions in the country admit international students from over 150 countries and regions all over the world.

The General Office of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council has continuously evaluated and approved some cooperative education programs between China and foreign countries. These programs have been authorized to confer degrees in Hong Kong and abroad based on some regulations of the country sine l995 in order to promote the teaching levels of the relevant disciplines and to meet the need of the high-level personnel in the society. 30-odd such programs have been approved by June, 1999.

The Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and it Office, as the state-level executive agency of the Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees of Higher Education in Asia and Pacific Regions, takes on some relevant works. China has signed bilateral agreements with 10 countries including Russia on mutual recognition of qualifications of higher education, diplomas and degrees. As a result of strict examination, evaluation and management that have been established and implemented, the academic levels of degrees are rather high in China, wining favorable comments from the international communities.

The System of Degree and Graduate Education in China

1. The System of Degree-conferring 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 schooling 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:

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. The Academic Degree Committee of the State Council will organize all the other examinations except the above-mentioned 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.

2. The System of Graduate Education

The Levels, Types, Goal and Requirements of Graduate Education

China'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 and 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: 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. The basic theory and laboratory courses indispensable for broadening the students' basic knowledge of specialties. The theoretical writings and documentation necessary for doing the forefront research work. The courses enabling the students to take on work in the inter- disciplines.

3. 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.

The Administration System of Degree and Graduate Education in China

The administration system of degree and graduate education has taken shape of three levels: the basic level of training units, the provincial level for overall management and the state level for guidance and supervision.

In accordance with the degree regulations, the administrative organization for academic degrees including the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and academic degree committees of degree conferring units are established. An academic organization of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council--the Disciplines Appraising Group is established.

According to the Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education in China, the administration system of higher education will constantly set up two levels of management of central government and of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. The latter should be given the first place. The provincial governments' authorization of overall management should be strengthened. In accordance with the overall requirement of the country's reform concerning the administration system of higher education and the above-mentioned principles, 26 provinces and cities have continuously established the provincial academic degree committees since 1991. They are Jiangsu, Shanxi, Shanghai, Sichuan, Hubei, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjing, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Guangxi, Yunnan, Chongqing, Gansu, Shanxi, Qinghai, Jiangxi, Henan, Hebei, and Inner-Mongolia.

The Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education exercise a unified leadership over the country's graduate education and are responsible for macro guidance and administration. They take charge of making overall planning, providing policy guidance, organizing, coordinating, supervising and examining the work of graduate education and offering relevant services.

The Disciplines Appraising Group under the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council is formed by disciplines and consists of those specialists and scholars with high academic levels. Its duties are defined as follows £º to examine and ratify newly- established Master's and doctoral degree conferring units and disciplines, evaluate and issue the Catalog of degree-conferring disciplines and specialties put forward suggestions on graduate education examine the quality of degree conferment and graduate education.

The academic degree committees, education commissions and higher education bureaus under the ministries and provinces autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government £© are responsible for administering graduate education and degree conferment in higher education institutions under their jurisdiction.

The president or one of the vice-presidents of higher education institutions should take charge of the work of graduate education. Special organization, such as graduate school, department or section should be established to handle the daily administration work according to the scope of graduate education and actual needs. If a department admits postgraduates, the administration work rests with the dean or a vice-dean. The teaching office and advisors in the department are responsible for the training and administration of postgraduates and implementing the training plans.

At present, 33 key universities in the country have set up graduate schools. The graduate school is a relatively independent administrative body under the leadership of the president and responsible for graduate education in the university. The president or vice-president of the university with similar status of experts should serve as the dean of the graduate school. Divisions should be set up to take care of the admission, training, administration and discipline construction. The departments enlisting postgraduates should set up corresponding sections or appoint functionaries to administer the work of graduate education.

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