Professional and master's programs are gradually becoming the main force in enrollment, and many universities are reducing their enrollment and suspending their enrollment for professional and master's programs

Multiple universities have reduced enrollment and suspended enrollment for master's degree programs, with specialized master's programs gradually becoming the main force in enrollment - optimizing the training system for "expanding and strengthening" specialized master's programs

In addition to extending the training period, it is also necessary to optimize the teaching staff, training mode, process management, and process evaluation of professional master's degree programs, so that professional master's degree programs can truly connect with the industry and cultivate high-quality talents needed by society.

Chu Chaohui, Researcher at the China Academy of Educational Sciences

Recently, the news of multiple schools suspending the enrollment of academic master's degree programs has sparked heated discussions. Recently, several universities, including the School of Economics and Management at Southwest University, University of Science and Technology of China, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and Northeast Forestry University, have announced that they will no longer admit academic master's degree students in certain majors. These majors cover multiple disciplines such as engineering, management, and agriculture.

In recent years, it has been very common for academic master's programs, also known as academic master's programs, to be reduced or suspended. Many majors have reduced the number of unified enrollment for master's students, and even only accept recommendation or direct doctoral enrollment. At the same time, the enrollment ratio of professional master's degrees, also known as specialized master's degrees, continues to expand and gradually becomes the main force in the enrollment of master's students.

The enrollment scale continues to expand

The Development Plan for Professional Degree Graduate Education issued by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education proposes to add a number of master's and doctoral professional degree categories with a focus on national major strategies, key fields, and major social needs by 2025, expand the enrollment scale of master's and doctoral professional degree graduate students to about two-thirds of the total enrollment scale, and significantly increase the enrollment number of doctoral professional degree graduate students.

In September 2022, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education mentioned at a press conference that the enrollment ratio of professional master's degree students in China has exceeded 60%. According to the China Graduate Admissions Information Network, a total of 4.74 million candidates nationwide registered for the preliminary examination of the national master's entrance examination held at the end of 2022, with over 60% of them applying for specialized master's degrees.

Chang Dong, who works at a postgraduate entrance examination tutoring institution in Changping District, Beijing, combined his observations of past candidates and stated that the trade-off between academic and professional master's degrees is not only a result of policy requirements, but also an important factor in promoting the proportion of professional master's degree admissions based on the actual needs of candidates.

"A considerable proportion of candidates want to pursue a master's degree, and their motivation is employment oriented, that is, to improve their competitiveness in the job market by obtaining a master's degree, rather than engaging in academic research. For them, a professional master's degree with a shorter education system, more practical teaching content, and lower exam difficulty is a more ideal choice compared to a master's degree," said Chang Dong.

Chu Chaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, believes that the expansion of enrollment for professional and master's degrees reflects social needs. Advanced talents are urgently needed in various professional fields, and theoretical research no longer requires the use of "sea of people tactics" to pile up. In the process of expanding graduate enrollment, this demand is reflected in the reduction of enrollment for master's programs and the expansion of specialized master's programs.

Starting from multiple aspects to improve the quality of training

Although the enrollment scale of professional master's programs is constantly expanding, there are still many problems in the cultivation of professional master's programs.

"There are often different evaluations and expectations of professional master's and academic master's degrees in society, just like the public still prefers general education between 'general education' and 'vocational education'. This problem still requires efforts from all parties to solve it together," said Chu Chaohui.

Chang Dong stated that currently, there is still no standardized and consensus on the cultivation of professional master's degrees in various universities and majors. For example, some mentors treat a master's degree as a training program, while the other extreme is not caring about the master's degree. And candidates cannot unify their understanding of academic and professional master's degrees.

"Some students want to pursue a PhD and engage in academic research, but they are worried that they won't be able to pursue a master's degree. They ask me if I can pursue a professional master's degree, whether it will affect their PhD studies. A more common question is whether a professional master's degree is less competitive in the job market than a master's degree." Chang Dong said that these questions are asked multiple times every year, but they cannot provide a definite answer.

Chu Chaohui pointed out that the allocation of teaching staff or the transformation of teaching models in some universities may not have been able to keep up with the expansion of graduate enrollment, which is one of the urgent practical problems to be solved.

The expansion of enrollment scale for professional master's degree programs mainly focuses on engineering majors. "Especially in popular computer science majors, the proportion of professional and master's degrees has significantly increased in recent years," Chang Dong told reporters.

"Although we often refer to science and engineering as science and engineering, there is actually a big difference between the two. Highly theoretical disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and theoretical mathematics do not have a direct corresponding professional master's degree, and the academic orientation of these majors is very obvious. Applied majors such as machinery, chemical engineering, and statistics have a distinction between academic master's and professional master's degrees, and most candidates who encounter confusion are concentrated in these majors," said Chang Dong.

Chu Chaohui stated that in addition to extending the training period, in the future, it is also necessary to optimize the teaching staff, training mode, process management, and process evaluation of professional master's programs, so that professional master's programs can truly connect with the industry and cultivate high-quality talents needed by society.