On December 24, China Education Online ·Handheld Postgraduate Entrance Examination officially released the "2023 National Graduate Student Enrollment Survey Report". The "Report" unfolds from three dimensions: application status, recruitment status, and talent training . The full text of
is as follows:
Summary
The number of applicants for the national postgraduate entrance examination in 2023 continues to grow slowly, reaching 4.74 million, an increase of only 170,000 from 2022. Compared with the 21% increase in 2022, the growth rate has dropped significantly, and registration is becoming increasingly rational.
At the same time, the scale of postgraduate enrollment in my country continues to expand. The total number of graduate student enrollment in 2011 was 560,000, and in 2021 it reached nearly 1.2 million. In ten years, total graduate enrollment has doubled. However, the recruitment and admission ratio has remained relatively stable, but there is a huge gap between majors. The recruitment ratio of humanities and social sciences is much higher than that of science and engineering majors, and the competition is fierce.
As the "postgraduate entrance examination craze" continues to heat up, the postgraduate entrance examination has become the "second college entrance examination". Shuangfei schools have become popular candidates, and the number of applicants has grown rapidly. The "reverse postgraduate entrance examination" has become a pragmatic choice for many candidates.
Postgraduate education is related to the core competitiveness of the country and is also the key to the ability and quality of independent talent cultivation. In July 2020, the National Graduate Student Work Conference was held at an upgraded level, and the overall design and positioning of a high-level talent training system based on domestic internal circulation was carried out to stabilize the scale of master's degrees and expand the scale of doctoral degrees.
Quality is the lifeline of graduate education and a strategic need of the country. In recent years, extending the academic system for professional degree graduate students is just one of many measures to improve the quality of education. The Ministry of Education continues to promote the "degree squeeze" action. From 2014 to 2021, 103 degree authorization points were revoked and 196 degree authorization points were rectified within a time limit to ensure that while the scale of postgraduate training is expanding, the overall quality of training can be guaranteed to be steadily improved.
The number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination has dropped significantly.
1 The number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination has reached 4.74 million, and the increase has dropped significantly. Setback
The number of master's degree applicants nationwide in 2023 continues to rise slightly, reaching 4.74 million, an increase of only 170,000 over the previous year. Compared with last year's 21% growth rate, the growth rate will fall sharply, far lower than private estimates, showing that candidates are becoming increasingly rational in applying.
Judging from the data of the past two decades, the number of postgraduate entrance examination applicants has entered a stage of high growth since 2016 after experiencing slow growth or even a decline. From 2015 to 2022, the average annual growth rate reached 15.8%. In 2022, it will achieve high growth at a high level, with a growth rate of more than 21%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
.1 The growth in the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination in various provinces has slowed down.
The growth in the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination has slowed down significantly in major higher education provinces (cities), such as Sichuan and Shaanxi. Northeastern regions have generally seen a decline. Provinces with relatively weak higher education, such as Guangxi and other places, have experienced large growth. This is obviously related to the "reverse" postgraduate entrance examination.
The number of applicants for the 2023 master's degree examination in Anhui Province was 232,080, an increase of 15,300 over the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 27.06%.
Data source: Anhui Education Examination Institute website
The number of applicants for the 2023 master's degree examination in Guangxi Autonomous Region exceeded 90,000, an increase of 11,000 over the previous year and a year-on-year increase of 13.9%.
Data source: Guangxi Admissions and Examination Institute website
The number of applicants for the 2023 master's degree examination in Shaanxi Province is 171,900, an increase of nearly 4,123 people over the previous year, an increase of 2.46%.
Data source: Shaanxi Provincial People’s Government website
The number of applicants for the Hunan Provincial Master’s Examination in 2023 is 180,900, an increase of 13,200 or 7.87% over the previous year.
Data source: Hunan Provincial Education Examination Agency website
The number of applicants for the 2023 master's degree admissions examination in Sichuan Province is 258,000, an increase of 4,000 or 1.57% over last year.
Data source: Sichuan Provincial Education Examination Authority website
In 2018, the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination in Liaoning Province exceeded 100,000 for the first time. In the following four years, the average annual increase was about 10%. In 2022, the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination exceeded 150,000, reaching 150,033. The number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination in Liaoning in 2023 is close to 150,000, a slight decrease compared with the previous year.
Data source: Liaoning Education Examination Agency website
The number of applicants for the 2023 Heilongjiang Master’s Examination is 125,071, a decrease of 2,170 from the previous year.
.2 The growth of registrations in prestigious universities has stagnated, and "double-non" universities have grown significantly
Along with the postgraduate entrance examination craze, the number of registrations in universities has generally been increasing year by year. The performance of different universities varies. Generally speaking, the growth of first-class universities is sluggish, while “double-Africa” institutions have suddenly emerged.
The number of master's students applying for Yunnan University for Nationalities in 2023 is 9,486, an increase of 3,385 from the number of applicants in 2022.
Data source: Yunnan University for Nationalities website
The number of applicants for master's degree programs at Jiangxi Agricultural University in 2023 exceeded the 5,000 mark for the first time, reaching 5,087. There are 1,441 more people than in 2022, an increase of 39.52%.
In recent years, the number of applicants for master's degree programs at Jiangxi Agricultural University has grown rapidly. The number of applicants has increased from 1,029 in 2018 to 5,087 in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of nearly 65%.
Data source: Jiangxi Agricultural University website
In 2023, more than 10,000 candidates have registered for master's degree at Chongqing University of Science and Technology, a year-on-year increase of approximately 32.3%.
Data source: Chongqing University of Technology website
The number of applicants for non-university universities has increased significantly. On the other hand, the number of first-class universities has stabilized, and some universities have even declined. The number of applicants for Beijing Forestry University master's degree program in 2023 is 9,699, a slight decrease compared to 9,719 in 2022.
Data source: Beijing Forestry University website
The number of Nankai University master's degree applicants in 2023 is 17,263, compared with 18,154 in 2022, a decrease of 891 people. In 2019, the number of graduate student registrations at Nankai University reached a record high, and showed a continuous downward trend in the following years.
Data source: Nankai University website
2 Master's degree enrollment has narrowed, and professional master's degree applications have become mainstream
According to the "Professional Degree Graduate Education Development Plan (2020-2025)" issued by the Ministry of Education, by 2025, the enrollment scale of professional master's degree graduate students will expand to about two-thirds of the total master's degree enrollment, becoming the mainstream of postgraduate entrance examination applications in the future.
While professional master's degrees are expanding, some colleges and universities are reducing academic master's degrees. Previously, Fudan University , Peking University , Southwest University , Sichuan University and many other "double first-class" universities announced the suspension of enrollment for some professional master's degrees. In May 2022, the University of Science and Technology of China Graduate Admissions Network issued an announcement announcing that it would stop recruiting postgraduate students with academic degrees in law and academic degrees in journalism and communication starting in 2023.
Judging from the application situation of master's degree students in some universities in 2023, the proportion of applications for professional degree master's degree students is higher than the number of academic degree graduate students.
In 2023, 8,248 people applied for Yan'an University graduate students. Among them, the number of applicants for academic degrees accounted for 28%, and the number of applicants for professional degrees accounted for 72%.
Data source: Public media reports
As of the online confirmation, the number of applicants for the 023 master's degree program at Northwest University of Political Science and Law was 15,037. Among them, 11,155 people applied for professional degrees, accounting for 74.2%; 3,882 people applied for academic degrees, accounting for 25.8%.
Data source: Public media reports
3 There is a large gap in science and engineering applications, while humanities and social sciences are "clustered"
The enthusiasm for candidates to apply for different majors varies greatly. According to Nanchang Hangkong University statistics of majors with a small number of applicants as of October 20, among the 41 majors with a small number of applicants, 32 are science and engineering majors, accounting for nearly 80%.For majors with fewer registrations, the school estimates based on previous years that the number of applicants will be lower than or close to the number of pre-admissions.
Data source: Nanchang Hangkong University website
On the one hand, there are a large number of science and engineering majors with a small number of applicants. On the other hand, the competition for humanities and social science majors is fierce. Even in universities that focus on science and engineering, humanities and social science majors have become popular candidates. According to the statistics of candidates' application status of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics as of October 20, the top five majors with the largest number of applicants are public administration, business administration, software engineering, engineering management, and law (non-law). The number of applicants is more than 600, including more than 2,000 in public administration.
Data source: Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics website
4 The phenomenon of postgraduate entrance examination and college entrance examination should be paid attention to
After higher education enters the stage of popularization, the devaluation of academic qualifications is an objective fact, coupled with employment difficulties, employers, especially those within the system, continue to improve academic qualifications, resulting in more and more people hoping to increase their competitiveness by improving their academic qualifications. The "postgraduate entrance examination craze" continues to heat up, and the postgraduate entrance examination has become the "second college entrance examination" after the popularization of higher education.
.1 The severe employment situation has intensified the "postgraduate entrance examination fever"
In recent years, my country's economic development has entered the high-quality development stage, and the growth rate has continued to decline. Especially due to the impact of the epidemic, employment demand has experienced bottlenecks.
The number of graduate student registrations is closely related to economic development. According to statistics, when the growth rate of my country's GDP slows down, the growth rate of graduate student registrations will increase, and the two show a negative correlation. During the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), my country's GDP grew rapidly. At the same time, the growth rate of the number of graduate student applicants showed a downward trend, reaching the lowest level in 2007. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), my country's economy shifted from high-speed growth to a high-quality, low-growth development stage. After 2015, the growth rate of the number of graduate student applicants increased rapidly.
In addition, the continued popularity of postgraduate entrance examinations is closely related to the severe employment situation. From 2011 to 2021, the year-on-year growth rate of college graduates nationwide in the past ten years has basically remained in the range of 2%-5%. In 2022, the number of college graduates across the country exceeded 10 million for the first time, reaching 10.76 million, a year-on-year increase of 18.37%, and both scale and increase hit a record high. The number of college graduates is expected to reach 11.58 million in 2023, with a growth rate of 7.62%. The employment situation for college graduates next year will remain severe.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
According to the survey and analysis of motivations for the postgraduate entrance examination, more than half of the candidates chose to take the postgraduate entrance examination because of current employment difficulties. In addition, more than 40% of candidates continue their studies because they are deeply interested in this major.
.2 "Reverse postgraduate entrance examination" has caused heated discussion in society. "Double-non" colleges and universities have become popular for applications
The traditional postgraduate entrance examination generally points to the upper entrance examination, that is, the "double non" entrance examination to "double first-class" colleges and universities. However, in the past year, there has been an obvious phenomenon of downward entrance examination, which is called "reverse postgraduate entrance examination." The reasons for this phenomenon are as follows: first, the popularization of higher education and , which has led to the devaluation of academic qualifications; second, the society's threshold for talent evaluation and selection is constantly increasing; third, the competition for postgraduate entrance examinations has intensified, making some people's core concern become solving the problem of passing the exam, rather than the question of whether it is good or not.
In this year’s application, the growth rate of applicants for some “double first-class” universities was significantly lower than that of “double non-first-class” universities. Nankai University and Beijing Forestry University even experienced negative growth. The growth rate of applications for "Double-African" colleges and universities is generally high, with growth rates of Yunnan University for Nationalities, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Yan'an University, Chongqing University of Science and Technology all exceeding 30%.
Data source: Each school website
Similarly, according to the survey on the target colleges of postgraduate entrance examination students, nearly 50% of the candidates taking the postgraduate entrance examination this year target colleges and universities; followed by first-class discipline construction colleges and universities, accounting for more than 30%; and finally, first-class universities and construction colleges and universities account for more than 20%.
When choosing a specific school, what aspects of the school do candidates mainly pay attention to? The survey shows that nearly 60% of candidates are concerned about whether the school is good at taking the exam and whether their scores are high or low. The second is the strength of the school, accounting for 56.07%; in addition, the number of students intending to enroll in majors is also of high concern, accounting for 41.43%.
In the face of fierce competition, judging from the application situation in the past two years, the postgraduate entrance examination is also showing signs of changing from the previous "going to a good school" to "going to a good school".
The scale of graduate student enrollment continues to expand, and key subject areas continue to grow
1 The number of graduate student enrollment continues to grow
With the popularization of higher education, in recent years, the scale of graduate student enrollment in my country has continued to expand. The total number of graduate student enrollment in 2011 was 560,000, and in 2021 it reached nearly 1.1765 million. In the past ten years, the total number of graduate student enrollment has nearly doubled. Especially in the 2020 enrollment period, in order to cope with the impact of the epidemic and ease employment pressure, graduate student enrollment increased by 20.7% that year, setting a new high in recent years.
Data source: The Ministry of Education website
The 2021 National Education Development Statistical Bulletin disclosed that there were 1,176,500 graduate student enrollments throughout the year, an increase of 70,000 or 6.32% over the previous year; among them, 125,800 doctoral students were enrolled, and a total of 1,050,700 master's students were enrolled. The enrollment of master's students accounted for about 90% of the total.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
2 The number of postgraduate students enrolled continues to grow, 60% of which are from " double first-class "
According to the latest data, there are 3.332 million postgraduate students in the country in 2021, an increase of 1.794 million compared to 1.538 million in 2010, an increase of more than double.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
From the perspective of universities, there will be a total of 1.954 million postgraduate students studying in "double first-class" universities in 2021, accounting for 58.7% of the country, nearly 60%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
3 The enrollment scale of colleges and universities continues to expand
.1 "Reducing enrollment" is an illusion, and some schools have a larger growth rate
Overall, the enrollment scale of master's students in most colleges and universities continues to expand, and some schools have a larger growth rate. Compared with the 2022 national master's degree enrollment plan, the 2023 "double first-class" college enrollment plan has increased significantly. Among them, Xi'an Jiaotong University plans to recruit 7,500 master's degree students in 2023, an increase of 500 students compared to 2022.
Data source: websites of various universities
Anhui University The enrollment plan for master's degree students has continued to grow in the past five years. It plans to recruit 2,615 students in 2019 and 4,586 students in 2023, an increase of 1,971 students in five years.
Data source: Anhui University website
Henan University Master’s degree enrollment plans have continued to grow in the past four years. The number of students has increased from 2,800 in 2019 to 5,500 in 2023. The number of master's degree students has increased by 2,700 in five years.
Data source: Henan University official website
.2 Famous universities are reducing master's degree programs while increasing doctoral enrollment.
It is slightly different from the continuous increase in the total enrollment of master's degree students in ordinary universities. Some famous universities are increasingly positioning master's degrees in the cultivation of applied talents and gradually shift the task of training academic research talents to focus on doctoral programs. While some universities are reducing master's degree enrollment plans in related majors, doctoral enrollment plans are constantly increasing. For candidates, the change is nothing more than changing from a master's degree to a "direct doctorate".
Beijing Forestry University’s total enrollment plan for master’s degree students in 2023 is about 2,180, a decrease of about 20 students from the previous year. In terms of doctoral student enrollment, the enrollment plan for 2023 is 374 students, an increase of 27 students from the previous year.
Data source: Beijing Forestry University website
Sun Yat-sen University’s master’s degree enrollment plan in 2023 will decrease by 600 students compared with the previous year, while the doctoral enrollment plan will increase by 100 students.
Data source: Sun Yat-sen University website
4 The number of professional master's degrees continues to grow, and the type of postgraduate education structure continues to be optimized
.1 The proportion of the number of professional degree conferees continues to grow
Driven by relevant policies, among the total number of postgraduate student enrollment, the number of professional master's degree enrollment has increased significantly. Since 2017, the number of students enrolled in associate’s and master’s programs has exceeded 400,000, exceeding the number of students enrolled in master’s programs for the first time. By 2020, the number of students enrolled in professional master's degrees will exceed 600,000, and the gap between the number of students enrolled in professional master's degrees is gradually widening.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
In the past ten years of master's degree enrollment, the proportion of professional master's degrees has increased year by year, accounting for more than 60% in 2020.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
Currently, the structural type of graduate education is optimized, focusing on the development of professional degree graduate education. The latest notice of the "Professional Degree Graduate Education Development Plan (2020-2025)" issued by the Ministry of Education points out that degree-granting units are supported to optimize the talent training structure, and the increase in the master's degree enrollment plan is mainly used for professional degrees. With the enrichment of professional degree categories and the improvement of talent selection examination methods, the demand for professional degree applications is also increasing.
Chang'an University The number of professional master's students enrolled in Chang'an University has increased year by year in the past six years. From enrolling 1,462 professional master's students in 2018 to 2,049 professional master's students in 2023, the number of professional master's students has increased by 587 in six years.
Data source: Chang’an University website
The number of professional master’s students enrolled in Anhui University has increased year by year in the past six years. From enrolling 1,328 professional master's students in 2018 to 2,807 professional master's students in 2023, the number of professional master's students has increased to 1,479 in six years.
Data source: Anhui University website
Inner Mongolia University will recruit 1,305 professional master's students in 2020, and will recruit 1,823 professional master's students in 2023, and will expand its enrollment to 518 professional master's students in four years.
Data source: Inner Mongolia University website
.2 In July 2022, the official website of the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council on issuing the list of revoked and added degree authorization points by independent review units for degree authorization in 2021" and the "Notice of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council on the dynamic adjustment of the list of revoked and added degree authorization points in 2021". In the degree authorization review results: more than 135 new master's degree programs were added, of which 65 were associate's degree programs, accounting for 48%, or nearly 50%. In 2020, the proportion of technical secondary school master's degree in new degree authorization points will exceed 70%.
Comprehensive degree authorization independent review unit and dynamic adjustment of additional degree authorization point data. Among the new degree authorization points (provinces) nationwide in 2021, Beijing has the largest number of new professional master's degree authorization points, with 13 additional degree authorization points; followed by Shanghai, with 9 additional degree authorization points.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
5 Postgraduate education has improved its ability to serve national needs
.1 Science, engineering, agriculture and medicine have been continuously strengthened
In the past ten years, my country's postgraduate education has closely served the "four orientations" strategic deployment, continued to improve the professional structure and talent training structure, and continued to strengthen key subject areas. According to official data released by the Ministry of Education, the number of first-level doctoral programs in science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine has increased from 1,944 in 2012 to 2,575; in the “double first-class” construction, science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine accounted for 78.5%.
Judging from the enrollment scale of postgraduate students in various disciplines in recent years, Engineering and are the disciplines with the largest enrollment; followed by management; the top five enrollment disciplines are medicine, science and education.
The total number of graduate student enrollment in 2020 increased by 20.73% compared with the previous year. Looking at the growth rate of various disciplines, agriculture has the highest growth rate, reaching 31.85%. Followed by medicine, the enrollment growth rate reached 29%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
In terms of postgraduate enrollment, judging from the situation in the past three years, the total number of enrollment in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine has also shown a continuous growth trend.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
.2 Accelerating the pace of training talents in urgently needed fields
Facing the major strategic needs of the country in the new era, the graduate talent training plan has proactively laid out the plan for the fields urgently needed by the country, and has established many talent training projects in fields urgently needed by the country. In 2021, special talent training projects such as integrated circuits and public health were laid out in an unconventional manner; special measures were taken to strengthen the construction of urgently needed disciplines such as party building, Chinese Communist Party history, archeology, and intangible cultural heritage; research was compiled to guide the development of urgently needed disciplines and majors, including early Chinese civilization, international communication, quantum science and technology, high-end equipment, and dozens of urgently needed fields to continue to enhance the ability to respond to the country's urgently needed disciplines and majors. We strive to cultivate high-level talents urgently needed by the country in a targeted, focused and organized manner through the continuous deployment of relevant special plans.
.3 Interdisciplinary universities continue to increase
On January 13, 2021, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education officially issued a notice, deciding to set up the " interdisciplinary " category as the fourteenth graduate discipline category, with "Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering" and "National Security" first-level disciplines. On November 17, 2021, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council issued a notice on the issuance of the "Measures for the Setting and Management of Interdisciplinary Subjects (Trial)". In accordance with the State Council's deployment of deepening the reform of the subject and professional system of higher education, the establishment and management of lower-level disciplines in the interdisciplinary category will be standardized to promote the development of interdisciplinary subjects.
At the "1+1 Series Press Conference for the Decade of Education", the Ministry of Education disclosed that in 2022, more than 200 degree-granting units across the country have independently set up more than 700 interdisciplinary points such as artificial intelligence , big data, new energy, and dual carbon.
In recent years, the number of colleges and universities in my country that independently set up interdisciplinary subjects has been increasing year by year. In 2022, the number of independently established interdisciplinary colleges and universities in my country will be 207, an increase of 22 from the previous year, and a total of 47 in three years.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
In addition, the number of independently set up interdisciplinary subjects is also growing. In 2022, the number of interdisciplinary subjects independently set up by my country's degree-granting units (excluding military units) will be 729, a year-on-year increase of 18%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
6 The scale of doctoral enrollment continues to expand
In terms of postgraduate structure adjustment, master's degrees are more focused on professional masters, emphasizing the cultivation of applied talents, while research talents focus more on the doctoral stage. In accordance with the requirements of improving the ability and quality of independent talent cultivation, doctoral enrollment has entered a period of moderate expansion.
In terms of doctoral enrollment, 105,000 doctoral students were enrolled in 2019. This is also the first time that the number of doctoral students in my country has exceeded the 100,000 mark. In 2020, doctoral enrollment will reach 116,000, with a growth rate of more than 10%. The total number of doctoral student enrollment in 2021 is 125,800, a year-on-year increase of 8%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
While the enrollment of doctoral students is expanding, the growth of professional doctorate degrees is strong. In 2015, the number of professional doctoral students enrolled in my country was 1,925, accounting for only 2.59% of the total number of doctoral students. In 2019, the number of professional doctoral students enrolled exceeded 10,000 for the first time, accounting for 9.88%. In 2020, the enrollment of professional degree doctoral students continued to grow, with the number reaching 13,700, and the proportion of professional doctorates reaching 11.82%.
According to data released by the Ministry of Education, with the vigorous promotion of the training of professional degree doctoral students, the enrollment ratio of professional degree doctoral students in 2021 has reached 14.4%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
7 Some colleges and universities have stopped recruiting full-time postgraduate students
Part-time postgraduate education is an important part of postgraduate education in my country. According to the training plan, some schools have gradually stopped enrolling full-time master's students in some majors and switched to part-time enrollment.
The School of Social Sciences and Psychology of Central University of Finance and Economics will begin recruiting part-time master's degree students in applied psychology (economic and financial psychology) from 2023, and will suspend the recruitment of full-time master's degree students in applied psychology; The Business School of Nankai University announced that it will begin recruiting part-time master's degree students in library and information science from 2023, and will suspend the recruitment of full-time master's degree students in business administration, full-time accounting, and full-time library and information science degrees.
In addition, Shandong University of Science and Technology , Beijing Technology and Business University 's master's degree in accounting, University of China for Nationalities , University of International Business and Economics 's master's in business administration, Renmin University of China 's master's degree in applied psychology, etc. also no longer recruit full-time, only part-time master's degree students.
has stopped recruiting full-time students and only recruits part-time graduate students. Most of the majors are accounting, business administration, applied psychology, journalism and communication, and other highly practical majors. This adjustment is also consistent with the training objectives of professional master's degrees.
Focus on improving the quality of independent talent training
1 Independently cultivated research becomes the main force of scientific and technological innovation
In recent years, the contribution of postgraduate education to scientific research has become more prominent. Chang'e flew into the sky, dragons entered the sea, high-speed rails flew, and aircraft carriers were listed. Behind a series of major national projects, our country's independently trained graduate students have become the main force in scientific and technological innovation.
According to statistics, among the newly added academicians and the first recipients of the three national science and technology awards in recent years, my country's independently trained doctoral students account for about two-thirds; More than 50% of the members of the National Natural Science Foundation of China's key projects are graduate students, and more than 30% are doctoral students.
2 The construction of the tutor team is further strengthened.
Tutors are the first person responsible for graduate student training. A high-quality tutor team is the basic guarantee for high-level graduate education. After the 2020 National Graduate Education Conference, the Ministry of Education formulated and issued "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Management of Doctoral Supervisor Positions" and " Code of Conduct for Graduate Supervisor Guidance ". The system and measures for the construction of the tutor team have been continuously improved, and the level of tutor team construction has been improved from the institutional aspect.
The number of graduate tutors will exceed 557,000 in 2021, compared with 298,000 in 2012, an increase of nearly 260,000. From 2012 to 2021, the number of graduate tutors has increased by 87%.
Data source: Ministry of Education website
3 To ensure quality, the extension of the professional and master's degree system has become a trend
According to the national higher education According to the provisions of the basic education system, the basic study period for master's degree students is 2-3 years, and the school can make adjustments according to actual needs; in the "Several Opinions of the Ministry of Education on the Cultivation of Full-time Professional Master's Degree Postgraduates" issued in 2009, the Ministry of Education proposed the teaching requirements for professional master's training that "the study period is generally 2 years, and the credit system is implemented." Since then, it has become the norm to have a professional master's degree of 2 to 2.5 years and a master's degree of 3 years.
In recent years, more and more universities have extended the postgraduate academic system for professional degrees. Generally speaking, extending the professional master's degree system will, on the one hand, help colleges and universities further accurately position their talent training goals, clarify the training goals and characteristics of academic masters and professional masters in different disciplines, and improve the quality of professional master's training. On the other hand, it helps students make up for the problem of less time for learning basic subject knowledge and insufficient social practice.
4 Strengthen the quality supervision of postgraduate training
In recent years, the Ministry of Education has continued to promote the "degree squeeze" action. From 2014 to 2021, 103 degree authorization points were revoked, and 196 degree authorization points were rectified within a time limit. Ensure that while expanding the scale of postgraduate training, we can ensure the steady improvement of the quality of training as a whole.
In 2021, Beijing issued the "Beijing Postgraduate Education Quality Improvement Action Plan (2022-2024)", which includes increasing the intensity of random inspections of master's degree theses and increasing the investigation and punishment of academic misconduct, dissertation fraud and other behaviors.
In the same year, many provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai, and Hubei issued opinions or measures to promote the high-quality development of graduate education and strengthen the quality management of graduate training, including internal quality management, external quality supervision, and other aspects. (End)
