Recently, the Ministry of Education held a symposium on the promotion of graduate education and teaching reform in the new era in Shanghai, and released the latest data on graduate education in China. It is reported that China has cultivated more than 11 million graduate students, and the number of graduate students currently in school has reached 3.65 million. Among them, the scale and level of postgraduate education in Beijing rank among the top in the country, and 9 out of every 100 people over the age of 6 have studied for graduate school, which is more than three times the national average.
The scale of postgraduate education in China continues to expand.
According to the data of the Ministry of Education, the scale of graduate education in China has increased from 180,000, an increase to 3.65 million in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 115%。Among them, the number of doctoral students has increased from 18 in 1978 to 38 in 202250,000 people, with an average annual growth rate of 224%；Master's students from 180,000 people, an increase to 326 in 202250,000 people, with an average annual growth rate of 109%。
The continuous expansion of the scale of graduate education in China has benefited from the continuous adjustment and improvement of China's graduate enrollment policy. Since the resumption of graduate enrollment in 1978, China's graduate enrollment policy has undergone four major changes, namely, the implementation of the recommendation and exemption system in 1981, the implementation of the system of combining examination and recommendation in 1986, the implementation of the comprehensive examination enrollment system in 1999, and the implementation of the academic degree and professional degree classification enrollment system in 2014. These policy changes not only reflect the development stage and needs of graduate education in China, but also promote the quality and efficiency of graduate education in China.
The level of postgraduate education in China is constantly improving.
The expansion of the scale of graduate education in China is accompanied by the improvement of the level of graduate education in China. According to the data of the Ministry of Education, significant progress has been made in the discipline layout, talent training, degree awarding, and quality assurance of graduate education in China.
In terms of discipline layout, China currently has 117 first-level disciplines and 67 professional degree categories, and 1More than 90,000 degree authorization points. In recent years, China has strengthened the construction of basic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, optimized the structure of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine, and added 39 non-catalogue first-level interdisciplinary disciplines such as quantum science and technology and advanced energy, and 6,196 off-catalog secondary or interdisciplinary disciplines such as semiconductor materials and devices, enhancing the ability of graduate education to support the frontiers and key fields of science.
In terms of talent training, China's graduate education adheres to the principle of cultivating people with virtue, taking innovation ability as the core, serving the national strategy as the guide, social needs as the basis, and quality improvement as the goal, and has cultivated batches of high-level innovative talents. In the new era, more than 780 postgraduate training units across the country have sent more than 600,000 doctors and more than 6.7 million masters to the main battlefield of economic and social development, making important contributions to national construction and social progress.
In terms of degree awarding, China's graduate education adheres to the degree awarding standard as the core, the quality of the degree as the focus, and the construction of degree authorization points as the starting point, which improves the standardization and authority of degree awarding. In recent years, China has introduced the "Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Graduate Tutors" and other systems, strengthened the training and management of tutors, broken the "lifelong system" of degree authorization points, increased the sampling of degrees, established a quality evaluation mechanism for degrees, and effectively improved the quality and level of degrees.
In terms of quality assurance, China's graduate education adheres to the principle of quality as life, evaluation as the guide, reform as the driving force, and supervision as the guarantee, and has established a scientific quality assurance system. In recent years, China has implemented national monitoring of the quality of graduate education, carried out the evaluation of the quality of graduate education, promoted the reform of graduate education teaching, improved the quality supervision mechanism of graduate education, and continuously improved the quality and efficiency of graduate education.
The scale and level of postgraduate education in Beijing ranks among the top in the country.
In the development of graduate education in China, the scale and level of graduate education in Beijing have always been in the leading position in the country. According to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, in 2022, 9 out of every 100 people over the age of 6 in Beijing had a postgraduate degree, more than three times the national average and the highest among all provinces and cities in the country.