How to keep up with the pace of "academic quality", multiple universities have announced the extension of graduate education system

Recently, several universities have announced the extension of their graduate program. The education system is closely related to the cost of living, career planning, job seeking, and further education during postgraduate studies, and therefore has attracted much attention. Will the extension of graduate education become the mainstream trend in the development of future universities? Is the extension of the education system leading to the convergence of "academic master's degree" and "specialized master's degree"? How to make "extending the academic system" a key to improving the quality of teaching in universities... These discussions have become important issues for college students and universities.

Multiple universities extend graduate programs

Not long ago, several universities announced their 2024 graduate enrollment brochures, which showed that the graduate education system has been extended. For example, in the 2024 Master's Admissions Brochure released by Shaanxi University of Technology, the full-time education master's and Chinese international education master's programs have been changed from two years to three years. At this point, all subject majors of the master's students at the school have a duration of 3 years. At Shanghai Sport University, starting from 2024, the doctoral program will be uniformly changed to 4 years, and students can apply for early graduation, but in principle, it should not be less than 3 years. The 2023 enrollment regulations of the school state that the duration of study for full-time non directed doctoral students is 3 years, and for full-time directed doctoral students it is 4 years.

Prior to this, many universities have announced the extension of the graduate program, especially the professional master's program. According to the 2023 Master's Admissions Work Regulations of Southeast University, all majors of master's students have a duration of 3 years. The 2023 Enrollment Regulations for Master's Students at Harbin Institute of Technology also mention that the basic length of study for some disciplines will be adjusted from two years to three years. During the transition period, professional master's students can apply to graduate in 2-2.5 years earlier.

A reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network found that in the graduate enrollment brochures already published by some universities, majors with extended academic systems are mostly concentrated in full-time graduate programs. For example, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology has a two-year graduate program except for the Master's degree in Education and the Master's degree in Chinese International Education, while all other science programs have a three-year program; The software engineering program at the School of International Business English Translation and Demonstration Software at Southeast University has been extended to three years.

In addition, among the majors with extended graduate programs, humanities and business account for a large proportion, such as the accounting major at Southeast University and Northeast Agricultural University, the business administration major at Central South University and Northeast Agricultural University, and the law major at Hebei University and Hunan University. It is worth mentioning that from the analysis, it can be found that architectural majors such as architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture, as well as medical majors such as clinical medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine, biology, and medicine, have also appeared multiple times in the majors of universities with extended graduate programs.

Why are more and more universities choosing to extend their graduate program?

It is understood that the "2023 Enrollment Regulations for Master's Students" of Nanjing Normal University state that the length of study for master's students is flexible, with an academic basic education system of 3 years, a full-time professional degree basic education system of 2-3 years, and a part-time professional degree basic education system of 2.5-3 years.

Professor Chen Hefang from the School of Education Sciences at Nanjing Normal University analyzed in an interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Network: "The first year of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies is basically a public basic course, which cannot be compressed. In addition, in the second year of professional and graduate studies, it is generally difficult to complete three tasks at the same time: 'usually no less than half a year of internship practice', 'thesis writing and defense', and 'job seeking and employment'. In addition, the requirements for writing academic dissertations are becoming increasingly standardized and higher, and online evaluation and sampling are becoming more common and strict, which also makes it difficult for college students to graduate."

In her opinion, the combination of the above factors may make the trend of extending the graduate education system increasingly apparent.

Will professional master's and academic master's degrees tend to converge after extending the education system

The professional master's degree has always been well-known for its strong applicability, targeting employment, short educational system, and other characteristics. The duration of professional master's degree programs in Chinese universities is generally maintained at 2-2.5 years, while the duration of academic master's degree programs is generally 3 years. However, in recent years, with more and more domestic universities adjusting the training period for graduate students, many professional master's degrees that originally only required two years of study have been extended to three years.

In response to this, Li Liguo, Vice Dean of the School of Education at Renmin University of China, stated in an interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that unlike some countries that position master's degrees as transitional degrees with shorter duration, in China, master's degrees are an independent degree stage, with a basic length of study of 2-3 years. Professional master's degrees are divided into full-time and part-time programs.

"The situation of students varies. In order to improve the quality of teaching, some majors' master's programs have been changed to a three-year program, allowing students more time to study and write papers, and improving the quality of talent cultivation. This is in line with the law of higher education development." Li Liguo said.

As for whether extending the specialized master's program will lead to the convergence of specialized master's and academic master's programs, Li Liguo said that the advantage of specialized master's programs lies in the different types and goals of talent cultivation compared to academic master's programs, rather than just the "short program length".

"Some students are pursuing a professional master's degree while working, and they are already tight on time. They have to complete their courses, graduation thesis, and other content within two years. Compared with full-time students, they have little competitive advantage in professional abilities. Today's changes can help improve the teaching quality of professional master's degrees, but rather are a corrective measure to increase the value of professional master's degrees," said Li Liguo.

How to keep up with the pace of the change in "academic system" and "academic quality"

Graduate education is a key indicator of a country's competitiveness in higher education. In July of this year, the "2022 National Education Development Statistics Bulletin" released by the Ministry of Education showed that the number of graduate students enrolled in China reached 1.2425 million in 2022, an increase of 66000 from the previous year. With the continuous increase in the number of graduate students, the call for improving the quality of graduate education is becoming increasingly high.

The extension of the academic system is only superficial, and many experts believe that the key is not in the "academic system", but in the "quality of education".

Experts point out that graduate education is different from other academic education, focusing on "specialization, refinement, and depth"; The assessment method is also different from other academic education, and its quality requirements are higher. Based on these pressures, some students only seek credits and do not study seriously or delve deeply into their coursework; Some mentors, due to their short academic years and a large number of students under their supervision, have no time or lack the energy to provide detailed and in-depth guidance. Moderately extending the length of study provides a lot of space to meet the requirements of graduate education, which helps optimize and strengthen the training process, and achieve the training objectives.

"It is impossible to achieve 'more, faster, better, and more economical' in graduate education. Chen Hefang believes that nowadays, both students themselves and employers, as well as various aspects of society, have put forward higher requirements for the quality of talent cultivation in universities. On the basis of extending the education system, schools should ensure that students' time is not wasted and their knowledge is increased.".

"To improve the quality of talent cultivation, the first step is in teaching. We need to further improve the teaching quality of basic courses, professional courses, practical courses, and other courses, so that students' learning can be more systematic and comprehensive," said Li Liguo.

Secondly, Li Liguo believes that for professional master's degree programs, their educational forms can be more diversified. "There should be both classroom learning and content that emphasizes the combination of theory and practice, and a series of rich and colorful courses and teaching content should be carried out in the face of production and practical needs. Finally, he believes that graduation thesis or works should be taken as the main theme, and the" exit gate "of students' graduation should be emphasized.".