Why is it difficult for doctoral students to graduate with frequent "batch" clearance
Recently, many universities have been exposed to "batch" removal of unqualified doctoral students.
Xidian University announced the cancellation of 33 doctoral students who have not been contacted, with the longest enrollment time of 15 years; Beijing Jiaotong University will withdraw 59 doctoral students; Shanghai Normal University will reject 125 students who cannot graduate beyond the school’s prescribed study period Postgraduates make withdrawals.
Since 2019, many domestic universities have chanted a "tightening curse" for graduate students, including doctoral students.
According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 colleges and universities have announced that more than 1,300 master and doctoral graduate students have been publicized. The reasons involve "the longest period of study", "not registering for admission", "application for withdrawal" and other aspects.
According to calculations released by the Ministry of Education, the postponed graduation rate of PhD students in my country in 2019 is as high as 40%, of which nearly half are delayed for one year and 20% are delayed for two years.
Nanjing University President Lu Jian said at the National Congress of the People's Republic of China last year that in 2012, 40% of PhD students in my country could not graduate on time, and the current proportion may reach 65%.
Why is it difficult for doctoral students to graduate?
In the eyes of most people, doctoral students are talents who have come to the top of the pyramid of higher education after going through the waves. How can they be "retired" frequently?
"Last year there was a situation of'retiring' doctoral and master's students in the academic circle. In fact, the retirement system has long existed, but major universities have not implemented it. And the group of people who have been retired, many have not been there long ago. The school has done scientific research, but the files are still kept in the school.” said Liu Wei, a postdoctoral candidate at the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to Article 30 of the "Regulations on the Management of Students in Regular Higher Education Institutions" of the Ministry of Education, if the academic performance does not meet the requirements of the school or the school fails to complete the school within the prescribed period of study, the school may be withdrawn.
The school system for doctoral education is three years, but in recent years, major universities have adjusted the school system for doctoral students, and many schools have extended the school system for doctoral students to four years.
According to the student status management regulations of major colleges and universities, usually after 6 years of graduation, they will be removed from school status.
Liu Wei told China Business News from his own personal experience that it is actually very difficult to graduate in three years.
First of all, Chinese universities set very high rigid indicators for doctoral dissertations.
The requirement of the research institute where Liu Wei works is to publish SCI (Science Citation Index) journals in English, with a cumulative impact factor of over 4, which means publishing 1 or 2 papers, and many journals come out from submission to the final article The time is as long as 9-12 months.
"During the doctoral period, it takes half a year to complete the course. You also need to submit the materials 3 months in advance for graduation, complete the structure of 1 or 2 thesis to writing, and prepare for the graduation thesis. The time is very tight." Liu Wei said.
And for Liu Wei, a doctoral student engaged in natural science research, scientific experiments are even more uncertain.
"Studies like ours that are partial to natural sciences need to go to the field, do experiments, and have data for a natural year, but it is difficult to guarantee the complete data collection in one year. It may be necessary to supplement the data in the coming year, and the time will be even more tight. "Liu Wei said.
In the research institute where Liu Wei studied, only 6 of the more than 30 doctoral students graduated on time this year; while in Liu Wei’s research group, the last doctoral student who graduated on time can be traced back to 2018, and then 2012.
In addition to the difficulty of graduating for PhD students in science and engineering, it is not easy for PhD students in the humanities and social sciences to graduate.
It took He Xinyi 4 years to get a PhD in German from Shanghai International Studies University this year.
"Although the doctoral degree is 3 years, in the past few years, there are only 2 doctoral students who have graduated in 3 years. The conditions for graduation are relatively loose. In addition to passing the graduation thesis defense, a CSSCI (Chinese Society) Science Citation Index) journals or journals of the same level recognized by the school. Doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences in comprehensive universities are more difficult to graduate, because their indicators are usually across the board, but in fact, it is difficult to publish high-level journals in the humanities and social sciences than science and engineering. There are too many, especially the CSSCI journals of foreign language and literature are very small, even professors and doctoral supervisors are not easy to publish." He Xinyi told CBN reporters.
The second is that the power of the tutor is too large, and the enthusiasm for enrollment is often high, but the training energy is not in place.
Zhang Yugui, dean of the School of International Finance and Trade of Shanghai International Studies University and a doctoral supervisor, told CBN that at present, in many "double first-class" universities, doctoral supervisors rely on projects to recruit doctoral students and postdoctoral students, which is likely to form a Matthew effect. The more projects, The more students recruited, the more topics to apply for, and therefore the more projects.
"Sometimes a tutor takes dozens of students, and the tutor becomes a professional household with doctoral students. In fact, the teacher does not have enough energy to train so many students, which will lead to a vicious circle. The students become the key to the production of thesis GDP and project GDP. A link." Zhang Yugui said.
Zhang Yugui believes that some major innovations are generated by the research interests of the supervisors, and the recruitment of doctoral students cannot rely on projects. It depends on the research interests of the teachers. Schools also apply across the board. No projects will not allow doctoral students to be recruited.
In addition, the tutor has too much say in whether a doctoral student can graduate.
"There is still a phenomenon in the academic circle, that is, the doctoral students under the tutors are regarded as research assistants. Even if the students have reached the graduation level, the tutors will find excuses to delay the graduation of the students, and the students cannot tell if they have difficulties." Zhang Yugui said.
Liu Wei also said that some students face difficulty in graduation because they are too good because the tutor wants to keep the students around and work more.
"Doctoral students are like cheap labor. In the research institute, a doctoral student earns more than 30,000 yuan a year, but in colleges and universities it is even cheaper, about 20,000 yuan."
The third reason is that some PhD candidates are not suitable for scientific research, but they did not recognize themselves before choosing to study for Ph.D.
“Many people don’t have a scientific research foundation and are influenced by people around them to work for a Ph.D. They didn’t know if they really love scientific research. Later, they realized that Ph.D. was not as simple as they thought, so they gave up.” Zhang Yugui said, a PhD student on the job It accounts for a lot of the objects cleaned up.
Liu Wei also believes that many people are not suitable for Ph.D., sometimes due to social pressure, or to postpone employment pressure, or the tutor wants to study.
"In fact, in the current system of doctoral candidates, only one-third of those who are truly suitable for PhD candidates may be."
"Only papers" urgently need to be broken
Not only in China, but also in foreign universities, the postponement rate of doctoral graduates is very high.
Wang Yunxin studied for a doctorate degree in thermodynamic systems at the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in France, and spent 39 months graduating.
He told the CBN reporter that the French science and engineering doctoral degree is generally 3 years, and the liberal arts doctorate is generally 4 years.
"It is difficult to graduate on time. About 80% of them will postpone their graduation. Generally, the postponement is 3 to 6 months, and the postponement of more than 1 year is relatively rare." Wang Yunxin said.
Although the difficulty of graduation is a common problem faced by doctoral students at home and abroad, there are obvious differences in the assessment standards for doctoral graduation at home and abroad.
Wang Yunxin said that the requirement for French doctoral students to graduate is to publish a thesis in a qualified journal or have a public speech at an international conference. In addition, a doctoral thesis and a thesis defense are required.
"France attaches great importance to the defense of thesis. It is necessary to find judges from various schools in France to form a panel of judges, and send the papers to the two members of the panel of judges. After several rounds of revisions, the defense will be conducted. The defense time is about 2 to 3 hours." Wang Yunxin Say.
Zhang Yugui said that universities in Europe, America, Japan, Singapore, India and other countries attach great importance to dissertations and thesis defenses. In contrast, some domestic universities pay more attention to publishing articles in well-known journals, hoping that students will be productive.
“Better foreign universities generally do not have rigid requirements for doctoral students to publish thesis publicly, and they pay more attention to the innovation and breakthrough of courses and graduation thesis. However, the domestic assessment system values output, and whether it can publish articles in well-known journals becomes an important assessment. Standards have led to a rapid increase in the number of papers published in China in recent years. Many papers are written by students at school, including doctoral students.” Zhang Yugui said.
"Thesis only" is a long-standing malady of Chinese academic circles.
Overcoming the academic evaluation of only papers, only hats, only professional titles, only academic qualifications, only awards, etc. is a challenge facing the academic community.
At the National Postgraduate Education Conference held on July 29, Sun Chunlan, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, said that the construction of the tutor team should be strengthened and the education evaluation system should be improved for different degree types.
It is reported that after the National Postgraduate Education Conference, the "Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Postgraduate Education in the New Era" and three supporting documents will be issued one after another, focusing on strict and standardized quality management, strengthening post management of doctoral tutors, and systematic planning of professional degree development. aspect.
Tsinghua University’s doctoral student training guidance document "Regulations on the Cultivation of Postgraduates for Doctoral Degree Programs" clearly stated that it encourages the evaluation of the academic level of doctoral students based on their dissertations and diversified academic innovations, and no longer uses academic papers as the sole basis to motivate doctoral students Carry out original, cutting-edge, and interdisciplinary research.
"Tsinghua University is the first university in the country to decouple the ability of doctoral students to graduate from whether or not academic papers are published, but removing the curse does not mean relaxing the training of students. I think the important thing is to improve the quality of the doctoral thesis itself. During the doctoral period, it is not easy to make a high-quality dissertation with forward-looking and supplementary topics. It is expected that many universities will follow Tsinghua University in the future." Zhang Yugui said.
Regarding how to do a good job in the dissertation, Zhang Yugui believes that the role of professors and experts in managing the school should be played to allow a third party to evaluate the graduation thesis. In the opening, pre-defense, and defense links, the student's tutor cannot participate in order to reduce the tutor The right to speak in whether students' papers can be passed, abandon the idea that students only rely on instructors.
"In this regard, domestic colleges and universities have changed. For example, they must be sent to external experts for review before and after the pre-defense, and it is extremely important to publicly obtain the recognition of domestic peer experts and increase the blind review of papers. This point has been kept in line with foreign countries." Zhang Yugui said.
In addition, Zhang Yugui believes that supervisors should be responsible to students when selecting doctoral students. They should take a rather short-term attitude. It is not necessary to recruit full places, but depends on whether the students have the potential to develop.
"Tutors must not only treat students as research assistants, but also as research partners, and they must not exploit students."
Zhang Yugui suggested that students should understand the situation, put their positions in the right position, and see if they are eligible for Ph.D., and also abandon the utilitarian thinking of "testing a famous teacher and relying on a tree to enjoy the cool".
"Academy is academic, it has nothing to do with utilitarianism. If you really want to be a Ph.D., you must be prepared to pick up a few layers of skin and lose a few hairs. A Ph.D. is not a kind of show off, it is actually a very hard work. "Zhang Yugui said.
(At the request of the interviewee, Liu Wei is a pseudonym)
Author: Sun Weiwei