On September 13, 2022, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education issued the new catalogues of the "Catalogue of Graduate Education Disciplines (2022)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Catalogue") and the "Administrative Measures for the Catalogue of Graduate Education Disciplines". "Officially listed as a first-level discipline, the training of postgraduates that will be recruited from the second half of 2023 will be implemented according to the new version of the discipline.
It will take less than a year from the consultation on December 10, 2021 to the official positioning of the first-level discipline.
Calligraphy has become a first-level discipline, the rationality and necessity of special doctoral degree categories, as well as discussions on the future development of the discipline and the employment situation of students.
In this regard, the reporter talked to relevant people in order to fully understand the system construction and design considerations behind the profession.
From art majors to first-level disciplines, the space has expanded a lot compared to second-level disciplines.
According to public information, in 1963, the China Academy of Art first established an undergraduate major in calligraphy.
However, before the new version of the "Catalogue" was launched, all calligraphy majors were recruited according to art, which was a four-year undergraduate major in parallel with fine arts and music (some colleges had specialties).
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, before the release of the new "Catalogue", about 140 colleges and universities in my country have set up calligraphy undergraduate majors, and nearly 34 colleges and research institutes are recruiting calligraphy graduate students.
So, what does it mean for the calligraphy major to be included in the first-level discipline?
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, told reporters: "Becoming a first-level discipline means that it can continue to set up second-level disciplines under its branches, and the space is much more expanded than second-level disciplines."
Why are calligraphy students keen on postgraduate entrance exams?
The employment scope is narrow, and the difficulty of postgraduate entrance examination is low
Teacher Zhang, who majored in calligraphy in a postgraduate entrance examination training institution, told reporters that after graduation, most of the students majoring in calligraphy will choose to engage in calligraphy teaching jobs. However, since the current position of calligraphy education teachers in primary and secondary schools across the country has not yet been established, most graduates can only engage in hard writing. Or brush calligraphy training, the employment method is relatively simple.
Therefore, more undergraduates majoring in calligraphy choose to continue their studies due to the pressure of employment.
Another trainer of calligraphy in the postgraduate entrance examination institution, Mr. Li, also said that most students choose to pursue a master's or doctoral degree in reading law in order to obtain more employment opportunities and expand future promotion space.
"For example, if you want to enter an authoritative calligraphy association, or teach in a university, if you want to obtain a higher professional title evaluation, academic qualifications are a threshold."
According to the "2021 Hubei Academy of Fine Arts Graduate Employment Quality Report" released by Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in January 2022, the employment units for graduates majoring in calligraphy are mainly in education (33.33%), culture, sports and entertainment (33.33%), Leasing and business services (33.33%).
Of course, Mr. Yang, who is also a calligraphy professional training teacher, told reporters that although calligraphy students have relatively simple employment methods, the phenomenon of inter-professionalism in postgraduate entrance examinations is relatively common. On the one hand, although it is not easy to find good jobs in this industry, they can enter after graduation It is also a good choice for many people to take classes in educational institutions, or become a calligraphy teacher in primary and secondary schools. For professional postgraduate entrance examination, study law graduate students.
However, Chu Zhaohui did not agree with the statement that calligraphy was established as a first-level discipline to ease employment pressure.
He believes that there are not many jobs that can be absorbed by the calligraphy profession, and the profession is very professional. The view that employment expansion should be achieved by adding doctoral programs is untenable.
At the same time, due to the strong professionalism of calligraphy, although the employment of graduates is not as wide as that of other majors, the existence of the threshold means that the horizontal competition will be lower.
The experience of calligraphy students:
Before it was established as a first-level discipline, the "sense of presence" was low
"I am very excited to see the news that the doctoral degree majoring in calligraphy is listed separately." Wang said that the implementation of this policy will greatly encourage more master and doctoral students majoring in calligraphy, including himself, to do more in the field of calligraphy. The study of value has also seen the country's encouragement and promotion of this profession.
Wang, who studied calligraphy in both his undergraduate and master’s degree programs at Capital Normal University, said that before the calligraphy major was listed as a first-level discipline, he felt that the subject had a low sense of existence: “In the past, we never said that we should take calligraphy in the postgraduate entrance examination. That is to say, if you take the art study, the admission notice you get is also the direction of art study Chinese calligraphy history under the Chinese Calligraphy Culture Research Institute."
According to Wang, the undergraduate teaching of calligraphy offered by his school mainly includes sketches, watercolors and other contents. During the undergraduate course, students are also required to learn various types of calligraphy such as "Zan Li Kai Xing Cao" every year.
"Undergraduate is more about basic general education, but postgraduate study focuses more on technical learning." Wang said that after the second semester of postgraduate, each student must choose a book that he likes or is good at body and learn professional practice.
By the time of graduation, the Master will need to submit one calligraphy work, and the Master will require two.
Of course, the master's teaching of calligraphy and the publication of papers are also necessary.
Wang introduced that students majoring in calligraphy also need to actively publish papers during the postgraduate study. Even from the first semester of the study, the supervisor will arrange thesis topics for the students, and they need to write papers until the third year of study. Calligraphy and other publications.
What is the future prospect?
Will encourage more people to pay attention to calligraphy learning
After the new version of the "Catalogue" is launched, what is the difference between it and the past?
What opportunities can it bring to the construction of calligraphy discipline?
Chu Zhaohui believes that after calligraphy enters the first-level discipline, more people will be encouraged to pay attention to calligraphy learning, and it will also convey the promotion of traditional culture in Chinese education.
As for the teaching significance of the calligraphy major entering the first-level discipline construction process, Yu Yang, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and deputy director of the National Thematic Art Creation Research Center, pointed out in a recent published article that the calligraphy major has long been attached to literature, art, and fine arts. In other majors, the current development status of calligraphy cannot fully adapt to the changes of the times. It is necessary to consider whether the allocation of resources is reasonable and whether there is a shortage of high-quality teacher resources.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Yang Yuqi Wu Yang
Intern reporter Wang Chenyuan intern Cheng Yichen