"Strict entry and strict exit" for graduate students has become the new normal
Analysis of experts in controlling education quality of overdue graduate students in many universities
At present, my country uses the term of study as the main criterion to remove overdue graduate students, which is related to the traditional school system concept. my country’s per-student funding for graduate students is based on the academic system. If a large number of students postpone their graduation for a long time, the school operation will be under greater funding pressure
Within the scope of autonomy, colleges and universities must have confidence and self-confidence, with the core of ensuring the quality of higher education, and further improve the management system
To achieve all-round and full-process management, colleges and universities need to reform the evaluation system for teachers and establish a sound tutorial system. Through the joint study and research of tutors and students, students are systematically trained to improve their academic ability. At the same time, the tutor’s educational reputation and academic reputation are used to ensure the quality of postgraduate training
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Intern Xing Yiming
Recently, the Graduate School of Southern Medical University issued the "Announcement on the Dismissal of 16 Graduate Students including Huang Moumou". 11 PhDs and 5 Masters did not complete their studies within the maximum length of study, and the school automatically dropped out.
Prior to this, Sichuan University, Jinan University, Jilin University and other colleges and universities have also withdrew many graduate students, mostly because the graduate students did not complete their studies within the maximum length of study set by the school.
In an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily, experts in the education sector expressed their support for the practice of relevant universities and hoped that universities should work harder on enrollment and training to improve the quality of graduate education.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, believes that the removal of unqualified graduate students from colleges and universities sends a signal of changes in graduate recruitment and graduation. In the past, as long as a graduate student entered the door, it was equivalent to getting a degree, which was equivalent to having an "iron rice bowl." Nowadays, the management method has changed, and the assessment of graduate students is more based on the actual situation, and they are eliminated and entered regularly.
Exceed the maximum length of study
Many graduate students were expelled
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily found that in recent years, many universities have dropped some graduate students.
In June 2020, Sichuan University will withdraw more than 200 postgraduates at one time; Shanghai Normal University will drop out 125 postgraduates who cannot graduate beyond the school's prescribed study period.
In May 2020, the School of Management of Jinan University issued a notice stating that 85 postgraduates were to be removed from the school. The reasons for removal were "the maximum length of study has been exceeded", "not registering for admission", and "application for withdrawal".
In April 2020, many colleges of Jilin University have successively cleaned up the student status of overdue graduate students; Shanghai Jiaotong University removed 21 graduate students at one time, most of which were international students.
In November 2019, Yanbian University served 136 postgraduates with a letter of withdrawal decision, the reason being "exceeded the maximum length of study."
In October 2019, Fudan University withdrew 12 postgraduates, mainly international students, because "the requirements for graduation or completion have not yet been met at the expiration of the length of study."
In August 2019, the Graduate School of Southern Medical University dismissed 28 graduate students because they had not completed their studies within the maximum length of study (8 years for doctoral students and 5 years for master students).
In June 2019, Tsinghua University dismissed two doctoral students; Communication University of China dismissed 61 overdue graduate students; China University of Geosciences dismissed 52 postgraduates at one time; Ningxia University dismissed 29 overdue master graduate students ...
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" concluded that the reason for the "removal" of the above-mentioned college graduate students was mostly related to the failure to complete their studies within the maximum length of study set by the school.
If I choose to postpone and I have not completed my studies, how likely is it to be expelled? According to the data shown in the "2020 National Graduate Admissions Survey Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by China Education Online, the situation is not optimistic.
The "Report" shows that under the trend of expanding enrollment scale, the actual number of graduate students is lower than the expected number of graduates, and the gap between the two continues to widen. In 2018, the number of graduate students is expected to be 773,000, and the actual number of graduates is 604,000. More than 20% of graduate students postpone their graduation. Among them, more than 60% of doctoral students cannot graduate normally.
The "Report" shows that in addition to research interest and academic ability, factors such as the frequency of mentor guidance and the size of the student guidance, the publication of scientific research results, and the topic selection of thesis have become the main reasons for postgraduates to delay graduation.
"There is no rigid elimination mechanism behind the clearance work, and the standards in the implementation of different universities are different, and the maximum length of schooling is the only hard lever." Zhejiang Normal University professor Lou Shizhou analyzed that currently China uses the term of study as the main standard for clearing Retirement of graduate students is related to the traditional school system concept. my country’s per-student funding for graduate students is based on the academic system. If a large number of students postpone their graduation for a long time, the school operation will be under greater funding pressure.
Blind expansion or present disadvantages
The quality of education needs to be improved
According to data from the Ministry of Education, the number of graduate students in my country will exceed 3 million in 2020. In 1949, the number of graduate students in my country was only 629.
According to the National Career Development Statistics Bulletin, in 1995, there were 145,400 postgraduate students in my country, and 2,906,400 undergraduate students. This means that the scale of graduate students in my country has increased by 20 times in 25 years. The number of graduate students this year has exceeded the scale of undergraduate and junior college students 25 years ago.
Because of this, many people point to the issue of enrollment expansion as the reason for the "removal" of graduate students. Some netizens said that blindly expanding the number of graduate students at school would do more harm than good to students. The inability of students to graduate is largely due to problems with the school management and graduate education team.
In response to this statement, Yao Jinju, director of the Research Center for Chinese and Foreign Educational Law of Beijing Foreign Studies University, believes: “Some schools are actually exploring. For example, in terms of subject settings, if the number of subjects remains the same, if you want to add subjects, Internal adjustments are needed; from the perspective of enrollment, some are overall expansion, and some are partial professional expansion; in reality, colleges and universities need exploration, and attempts may not be successful, but they are also a manifestation of the autonomy of colleges and universities."
However, Yao Jinju also mentioned that there are indeed some schools blindly pursuing the expansion of the number of graduate students, which involves the issue of college investment mechanism. The school's education funds are allocated according to the number of students, and colleges and universities will take into account discipline construction, evaluation and other factors when expanding their enrollment. , And in many cases the number of students is also one of the evaluation criteria.
In Chu Zhaohui's view, universities are mainly driven by the policies of the administrative department. In terms of management, including the determination of enrollment indicators, the administrative department and the university are still integrated, but their respective responsibilities are not clearly defined. Therefore, the relationship between responsibilities and powers in the graduate training process is not clear, leading to how to evaluate students. How much to eliminate is not determined by a university.
"Cultivating a doctoral or master graduate student requires a lot of corresponding resource allocations, and there are educational costs for teacher resources and hardware allocation. Looking at the recruitment requirements of many units, it is not difficult to find that the demand for degrees for employers is constantly increasing, but if they are trained The quality is good enough, this demand is actually unnecessary, so the core of the problem is to improve the quality of education." Yao Jinju said.
Yao Jinju believes that the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to build an educational power. The important task of the development of higher education in the new era is to accelerate the construction of first-class universities and first-class disciplines and realize the connotative development of higher education. In recent years, many policies have been put forward to realize this problem. . Therefore, the emergence of current college students and graduate students being dropped out of school can be said to be an attempt and effort to improve the quality of training and enhance the competitiveness of higher education. This is also a return to the essence and original intention of higher education.
Xiong Bingqi, dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that in the past 10 years, most graduate training institutions in my country have adopted the method of removing overdue graduate students to control the quality of graduate education. This approach will undoubtedly put more pressure on graduate students to study.
Strict entry and strict exit become the trend
Guarantee of autonomy of universities
On February 26, 2019, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on Further Standardizing and Strengthening the Management of Postgraduate Training", which put forward a series of stricter normative requirements on the enrollment and training management of postgraduate examinations, such as "Grasping the Dissertation "And "degree award management". This is also regarded by many as one of the reasons why many colleges and universities quit graduate students.
In Chu Zhaohui's view, the recent frequent phenomenon of clearing and retiring overdue graduate students shows a shift from "strict entry and wide exit" to "strict entry and strict exit", which involves teachers, schools, and management departments. To achieve efficient and sound development, we must go through this transformation process. The relevant documents of the Ministry of Education only provide support. In fact, there are some schools that strictly abide by the requirements of "paying close attention to the dissertation" before the Ministry of Education issued the documents. However, there are also quite a few colleges and universities who are hesitant, and the documents of the Ministry of Education provide reassurance for these hesitant schools.
Yao Jinju believes that whether "strict entry and strict exit" actually depends on university administrators. In the future, "strict entry and strict exit" will become a trend. "As for who will become the leader of this trend, it depends on the university's own courage. , Action ability. Whether it is'lenient entry and strict exit' or'strict entry and strict exit', strict quality control must be a trend. Which university is more willing to do this kind of exploration in the future also means that it will occupy more Good status".
Some people in the industry also said that although the Ministry of Education has clearly stipulated that unqualified students are removed from the school, there are also systemic regulations. For example, some people who "exceed the maximum length of study" should naturally be removed. However, some colleges and universities are as "cautious" as possible in the removal of graduate students, worrying that students will not be able to graduate or cause negative effects.
"If the school has sufficient decision-making power, I believe many colleges and universities will choose'strict entry and strict exit'. If the school's independent decision-making power is not large, it will still be affected by other factors. So from this perspective,'strict entry and strict exit' 'Whether it can become the norm is directly related to the reform of the management system of colleges and universities, the degree of autonomy of colleges and universities, and whether there is sufficient autonomy in enrollment and teaching evaluation." Chu Zhaohui said.
In Yao Jinju's view, within the scope of autonomy, colleges and universities must have the confidence and self-confidence to further improve the management system with the core of ensuring the quality of higher education. At present, the management of undergraduates is relatively complete, and the management of graduates needs to be further regulated, such as enrollment education for graduate students, education on style of study, and regular warnings.
The National Postgraduate Education Conference held in July this year required that universities should focus on improving the quality of postgraduate education, deepen reform and innovation, and promote connotative development. Take research as a basic indicator to measure the quality of graduate students, optimize the layout of disciplines, focus on categorized training, open cooperation, and cultivate high-level talents with research and innovation capabilities; strengthen the construction of the tutor team, improve the education evaluation system for different degree types, and strict quality management , School spirit and style of study, to guide the high-quality development of graduate education.
In the opinion of many people in the industry, these requirements have released two signals: one is that graduate education must grasp the quality, and cannot sacrifice quality because of enrollment expansion; the other is to implement "strict entry and strict exit", that is, to ensure the quality of training. To properly control the "export", we should also improve the quality of the training process.
Establish a sound mentor system
All-round full-process management
Although the removal of overdue and unqualified graduate students is a way to control the quality of graduate training, the "removal" is not the result that the school and students want to see. The graduation exit is the last hurdle. It takes a few years for students to graduate from school. What else can the school do for postgraduate training during school?
In 2017, the Ministry of Education and the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council jointly issued the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education" to clarify that the system for the diversion and withdrawal of postgraduate training was improved.
In 2019, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on Further Standardizing and Strengthening Postgraduate Training Management" and reiterated that "postgraduates who are not suitable for continuing to study for a degree should be diverted as soon as possible, and the diversion should be increased."
According to Wu Hewen, a professor at Shaanxi Normal University, retirement is only a way of diversion. The main methods of diversion generally include postgraduate graduation, graduation, and degrading training. At present, postgraduates are degraded mainly because continuous graduate students are not suitable for doctoral training, so they return to the master training stage.
In public reports, reporters from the "Rules of Law Daily" have not found examples of postgraduate degrading training. They only found news about 18 students from Huazhong University of Science and Technology who switched from undergraduate to junior college due to substandard credits in 2018.
"Our country uses the term of study as the main criterion to remove overdue graduate students. Another important reason is that after the length of the school system, there will be no per-student allocation." Xiong Bingqi introduced to the reporter of "Rules of Law Daily". In addition, China provides logistics for graduate students. Services are also not socialized, but provided by universities. If a large number of students postpone their graduation for a long time, the pressure on services from universities will also be huge.
Xiong Bingqi believes that at present, using the number of years of schooling as a withdrawal criterion will have a certain effect on improving the quality of graduate education. At least students cannot be "nominated students" after they are admitted to graduate school, but it has an effect on improving the quality of graduate students. limited. For example, a student who does not register after the school’s deadline is likely to not want to go to school. In addition, some students who were dropped out of school due to overdue transfer the responsibility to the school and tutors, thinking that their usual management and requirements are not strict. If there is strict process management and evaluation, then there is no need to wait for centralized clearance.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" noted that in the "Further Standardizing and Strengthening of Postgraduate Examination Enrollment and Training Management", not only the training units are required to "pay close attention to the dissertation" and "degree award management", but also to strictly implement the full range of degree awarding Full process management.
In Xiong Bingqi's view, the all-round and full-process management proposed by the Ministry of Education is a remedy for the quality of graduate education, which places higher demands on universities. Compared with all-round and full-process management, the simple operation of clearing and retiring overdue graduate students is too much trouble.
Xiong Bingqi believes that to achieve all-round and full-process management, universities need to reform the assessment and evaluation system for teachers and establish a sound tutorial system. At present, universities implement quantitative evaluations for teachers. Therefore, teachers pay more attention to quantifiable topics, funds, and thesis indicators. They do not invest enough in talent training. Only by reforming the assessment and evaluation system can teachers guide teachers to spend more time and energy on guiding and training students. Rather than being “stocked” because of the busy tutors, some students have not seen tutors several times a year, and some are treated as “wage earners” by tutors, and “doing miscellaneous” and “running errands” for teachers’ topics and projects. Various disputes and contradictions.
"A sound tutor system is to conduct systematic academic training for students through the joint study and research of tutors and students to improve students' academic ability, and at the same time use the tutor's educational reputation and academic reputation to ensure the quality of postgraduate training." Xiong Bingqi said.
Yao Jinju also suggested to distinguish levels, responsibilities, and fine management. Universities need a good graduate management team, and tutors must also conduct corresponding training to clarify the rights and obligations between students and tutors. The responsibilities of the instructor and the management team should be further clarified, so that students have a clear understanding of their future training programs. While ensuring the quality of education, the corresponding rights of graduate students must also be guaranteed.
"In addition, we can also reflect on the withdrawal incident. Does everyone have to pursue higher education? This requires individuals to rationally choose higher education according to their own circumstances. There may be corresponding adjustments in degrees in the future, such as whether vocational education is also Corresponding degrees are needed, so that we can improve China's degree mechanism in an all-round and multi-level manner based on different needs." Yao Jinju said.