Can the national expansion of professional master's and doctorate's "Master's degree first" concept reverse the special master's degree, will it still be the golden sign of academic qualifications?

　　Following the expansion of 189,000 graduate students this year, on the eve of National Day, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education issued another heavy document "Professional Degree Graduate Education Development Plan (2020-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan").

Among them, it is mentioned that by 2025, a batch of master and doctoral degree categories will be added, and the enrollment of master's degree graduates will be expanded to about two-thirds of the total enrollment of master's degree students, and the number of doctoral degree graduate students will be greatly increased.

　　On the basis of the increase in the total enrollment of graduate students, it is required to continue to expand the enrollment scale of professional degree graduate students, which will exceed the number of academic graduate students.

Behind this, can the quality of professional postgraduate education be guaranteed?

In the future, will professional degree graduate students still be a "golden sign" of academic qualifications?

　　Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, told the Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter that from the reality, my country's demand for high-end research talents is limited, and the absorption of talents in research positions is almost saturated.

However, the number of postgraduate entrance examinations is still increasing every year, which intensifies the contradiction between social needs and students' study and further study.

On this basis, the state has put forward the requirements for the expansion of professional degree graduate students.

　　What is a professional degree master student?

　　It is clearly stated in the "Plan" that professional degree postgraduate education is mainly aimed at the needs of specific occupational fields in society, and cultivates high-level applied professionals with strong professional abilities and professional qualities, and capable of creatively engaging in practical work.

Professional degrees are generally set in fields that are knowledge-intensive, require higher professional skills or practical innovation capabilities, have distinctive professional characteristics, and have greater social needs.

　　once

　　The "difficulties" of employment and education

　　Holding a master's degree certificate but unable to enter the desired unit

　　In June last year, student Huang graduated from a college in Zhejiang and obtained his own professional master's degree in materials science.

However, because of his professional master's degree certificate, he missed the job of a certain research institute in Beijing that he liked.

　　"It is clearly stated in the recruitment brochure that an academic master's degree in materials science-related majors is preferred. This means that there is basically no possibility of entry for a professional master's degree." In fact, Huang failed to wait for the opportunity to enter the job, and even the notice of the interview and written examination Did not receive.

　　In 2017, Huang went to the school where he was studying for a master's degree with excellent results. The reason why he chose to study for a professional master's degree is that the ratio of enrollment to master's degree is much higher than that of master's degree.

In order to be able to get the admission letter smoothly, Huang did not think much about applying for the master exam in materials science.

　　In addition to the above-mentioned research institutes, Huang also tried to submit resumes to the positions of many colleges and universities recruiting researchers. Although the job requirements only stated that they required a master’s degree or above, Huang did not receive an offer from any college. .

In Huang's opinion, the problem lies in his master's degree.

　　In the end, Huang was not able to complete the research work in the field of materials science. He chose to join a company as a general technical post.

　　Expert analysis

　　Chu Zhaohui, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences:

　　"From the perspective of recognition, for some professional institutions, the recognition of professional master’s degrees is certainly not as good as that of academic master’s degrees. The reasons for this phenomenon are that the scores of special masters are lower than those of academic masters. To a certain extent, this has created a stereotype that students with a master’s degree are inferior to those with a master’s degree; secondly, master’s degree students pay more attention to the development of applied skills, while research institutions value students’ academic abilities, and therefore require master’s degree priority in recruitment. This has resulted in the so-called'discrimination on masters.

　　Because the instructor of the master's degree is not willing to take it

　　One of them is Liu, who is studying for a master's degree in communication at a university in Guangzhou.

Thinking back to the situation of choosing a tutor when he first entered the school in 2018, Liu felt a bit wronged.

"I started contacting my instructor as soon as the retest was over. It was considered an early batch. But several teachers knew that I was studying for a master's degree, so they didn't want to take me."

　　Student Liu told reporters that since there are far more masters and masters students than masters in his university, and the master’s degree is two years, the second year is basically an off-campus internship; while the number of masters and masters is small, the school system is 3 years, and more tutors can participate The academic research results of the university, so when the tutor selects students, he puts more emphasis on academics.

　　Student Liu failed to choose her favorite tutor, which became one of her biggest regrets during her graduate school.

But what made her even more disappointed was that when she was about to apply for a Ph.D. opportunity at this school in the second year of graduate school, she was rejected again because of her master's status.

　　"In fact, I also published papers in core journals and participated in the research topics of my supervisor, but when I wanted to apply for a Ph.D., it was because of the problem of master's degree that I didn't get what I wanted." Liu recalled that many students with similar levels around me Master students have basically succeeded in applying for Ph.D. Some students even applied for Ph.D. at Tsinghua University, but they failed to apply to their favorite university.

　　"It's not that you can't apply for a PhD with a master's degree, but the schools that handed you an olive branch may not be as good as the schools that you applied for." In the end, student Liu gave up his PhD program and chose direct employment.

　　Expert interpretation

　　How to maintain academic qualifications "Golden Sign"

　　Clarify the training goals and increase the capital investment

　　In fact, since 1991, my country has implemented a professional degree education system.

Statistics show that by 2019, my country has granted a total of 3.218 million master's degrees and 48,000 doctoral degrees.

However, after nearly 30 years of development, my country’s professional master’s education system is still facing development difficulties.

　　Student Liu told reporters that in his master's degree in journalism and communication, many courses are taught with students in journalism and communication. The requirements for course essays and assessments are the same.

"I personally feel that there is not much difference between the master's degree and the master's degree in the course teaching. Because the master's degree is only studied for 2 years, more courses have to be completed within a year, so in fact, the students of the master's degree are more busy than their students. "Student Liu said.

　　"Seniors and seniors have told me that there is not much difference between a master's degree and a master's degree. Many courses are taken together." In Huang's perception, there is no big difference between the master's degree and the master's degree in course learning. They all go to class with their master students to do experiments.

The slight difference is that the university where Huang is attending only requires masters and masters students to publish papers in core journals, while there is no such clear requirement for masters and masters. In addition, the requirements for masters and masters will be slightly looser than those for masters in terms of graduation design.

　　In addition, in the training plan for the master's degree program of the university where Mr. Liu belongs, it is mentioned that the industry's second tutor system will be implemented for the master's degree students, that is, the industry will be invited to become the second tutor of the students to guide business courses.

However, in reality, Liu did not see his industry mentor, and more often he could only participate in the lectures conducted by industry mentors in the school.

　　"In my personal opinion, an obvious problem in postgraduate education is the lack of supporting teachers." Professor Liu Haiming, a master tutor from the School of Journalism and Communication of a university, analyzed that one of the main problems in postgraduate education The degree of distinction is not large, and it fails to reflect the advantages of masters and masters in cultivating students' professional ability. The main factor causing this problem is the lack of supporting teachers.

　　Liu Haiming gave an example. For example, many colleges and universities hire well-known editors and reporters to become instructors of students' business courses. From a business perspective, they can indeed help students learn writing skills faster.

However, as a postgraduate education, doing related theoretical research on collection and writing may not improve students' research ability.

　　"Insufficient teachers will lead to the lack of innovation in the curriculum, the gap between masters and masters, and the teaching advantages are naturally not obvious." Liu Haiming pointed out that many liberal arts majors, masters and masters are almost all taught together. , There is not much difference between the requirements of the two, but the school system is different.

　　In fact, in response to the development of professional and master training, the "Plan" also clearly pointed out that the concept of focusing on academic degrees rather than professional degrees needs to be reversed, and the phenomenon of simply applying academic degree development concepts, ideas, and measures still exists to varying degrees; in addition, In terms of the structure and quality of postgraduate education for master's degree programs, there are still real problems such as insufficient category settings, inflexible setting mechanisms, innovation in training models, and urgent improvement in training quality.

　　"There is no gap with the masters and students, and they cannot be taught in accordance with their aptitude and differentiated training. Then the teaching objectives of the masters and masters will be unclear, and the employment advantages of the masters and masters will not be obvious, which will naturally lead to the problem of insufficient competitiveness. "Liu Haiming pointed out that in order to continue to become the golden sign of academic qualifications, the master's degree must clarify the training goals, increase the investment of master's capital, and improve the ability of professional masters to meet the requirements.

　　"Vigorously developing professional degree education is the only way to reconcile the problem of balancing social needs and talent training"

　　The "Plan" proposes that the development of professional degree graduate education is an inevitable choice for the economy and society to enter the stage of high-quality development.

With the emergence of new economies and new business formats, high-level application-oriented talents need more refined and professional division of labor training.

However, under the trend of expanding professional graduate education, some people have begun to think about the social problem of over-education. Under the background of the popularization of master education in the future, can professional masters still belong to elite education?

Can this academic certificate be a signboard when applying?

　　"In fact, many academic graduate students did not engage in academic research, but entered the enterprise like more professional degree students." Therefore, in Chu Zhaohui's view, vigorously developing professional degree education is to reconcile society The only way to balance the problem of demand and talent cultivation.

　　Regarding whether the expansion of professional degree master’s degree will cause over-education, Chu Zhaohui believes that the problem of over-education lies in the continuous improvement of employers’ requirements for talents. For example, some positions that only require a bachelor’s degree often require a master’s degree. On this basis, students are forced to continue their studies.

　　"This is a social problem formed by a country, employers, schools, and individuals." In Chu Zhaohui's view, the expansion of professional degree master's enrollment is not the cause of excessive education, but the current employment situation and social needs. A result.

　　Although enrollment expansion is imperative, Chu Zhaohui also pointed out that from a micro level, it is necessary to pay attention to the boundary issue of enrollment expansion.

He explained that specific to the college and even each major, how to expand enrollment, how much enrollment, and the formulation of training programs, etc., it is necessary to introduce detailed methods from the micro level, and to balance the overall situation with a point to avoid blind enrollment expansion and over-education. The problem.

　　In fact, the "Plan" also clearly mentions that the expansion of professional degree postgraduate enrollment needs to be based on the needs of social development, and it provides different enrollment key subjects for masters and doctors. It is clear that the focus is on modern manufacturing, modern transportation, In the fields of modern agriculture, modern information, modern service industry, and social governance, a batch of professional master degree categories have been added; on the basis of ensuring quality, the focus is on the clinical doctoral degree, the engineering doctoral degree, and the doctoral degree of education. A batch of doctoral degree authorization points were added.

　　Although the enrollment of masters has been continuously expanded in recent years, Chu Zhaohui suggested that students should not blindly pursue academic qualifications, but should set goals according to their own career plans.

In Chu Zhaohui's view, if you can find a job you want during your undergraduate studies, you should choose employment as much as possible instead of blindly pursuing higher education.