Over 7 million cultivated in 10 years——

Postgraduate Education: Create an army of high-level talents (China Education · This Decade ④)

　　Our reporter Sun Yahui

　　"Chang'e" flew into the sky, "Jiaolong" entered the sea, high-speed trains galloped, and aircraft carriers entered the ranks... Behind a series of major national projects, there are the outstanding contributions of China's self-trained graduate students, who have become the main force of scientific and technological innovation.

　　Graduate education is of great significance in cultivating high-level innovative talents.

Over the past 10 years, China's postgraduate education has been focusing on "cultivating morality, serving needs, improving quality, and pursuing excellence". It has implemented two rounds of comprehensive reforms, accelerated the establishment of a major postgraduate education country, guaranteed the overall quality of postgraduate education, and cultivated a phalanx of innovative talents. , providing strong talent support for the development of the party and the country.

　　The scale is prominent

　　Over 800 graduate training units

　　Data show that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country, the professional structure of postgraduate education and the structure of talent training in China have continued to improve. More than 800 postgraduate training units across the country have sent more than 600,000 doctors and more than 6.5 million masters to the main battlefield of economic and social development.

Guided by service demand, the structure of postgraduate education has been optimized, and the professional system of disciplines with Chinese characteristics has been improved. A number of first-level disciplines and professional degree categories have been added, such as cyberspace security, integrated circuit science and engineering, and traditional Chinese medicine. There are 14 discipline categories, 113 first-level disciplines, and 47 professional degree categories, covering the main fields of national economic and social development.

　　The classification training system is more complete.

While steadily developing academic degrees, we will vigorously develop professional degrees. The proportion of master's degree conferees will increase from 35% in 2012 to 58% in 2021, and the proportion of doctoral degree conferees will increase from 5.8% to 9%. The idea that degrees are as important as academic degrees, and the concept of classified development is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

　　Key subject areas continue to strengthen.

The number of doctoral programs in the first-level disciplines of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine has increased from 1,944 in 2012 to 2,575; in the construction of "double first-class", the proportion of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine disciplines has reached 78.5%.

The discipline construction of philosophy and social sciences has been continuously strengthened, and a number of "unpopular secrets" with important cultural value, such as oracle bone inscriptions, have been inherited and carried forward.

　　According to Hong Dayong, director of the Department of Degree Management and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education, in the past 10 years, postgraduate education has innovated mechanisms in the interdisciplinary field.

"Added new interdisciplinary categories, introduced interdisciplinary setup and management measures, and made institutional arrangements for the development of interdisciplinary disciplines. More than 200 degree-granting units have independently set up more than 700 interdisciplinary disciplines such as artificial intelligence, big data, new energy, and dual carbon. Hong Dayong said, "At the same time, we will continue to optimize the regional layout. Serving the construction of important talent centers and innovation highlands in the world, doctoral programs in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area account for 27.6% of the country; serving the Western Development Strategy , through preferential policy support, to promote the proportion of doctoral authorized universities in the western region to ordinary undergraduate universities to reach or slightly higher than the national average."

　　It is worth noting that the integration of science and education and the integration of production and education in postgraduate training are more mature, and a pattern of joint training between universities, scientific research institutes, and high-level enterprises has gradually formed.

These include: identifying and building 108 demonstration bases for joint training of postgraduates with engineering degrees; exploring the “Science and Technology Academy” education model for agricultural masters, and driving the construction of more than 300 science and technology schools in universities across the country; The four-in-one training model has been widely recognized by employers and graduate students.

In addition, the development system of postgraduate tutors has been continuously improved. The number of tutors has increased from 298,000 in 2012 to 557,000 in 2021. The structure has been optimized and the quality has been improved to build three national typical demonstrations, provincial key guarantees, and full coverage of training units. Level instructor training system.

　　quality improvement

　　Injecting climbing power into seeking truth and innovation

　　Yang Wei, president of the China Association of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, has many years of management experience in postgraduate education. In his opinion, the past 10 years have been a decade of great development in China's postgraduate education, which has opened up a talent pool for the nation to take off.

"The development of China's postgraduate education in the past 10 years is reflected in the expansion of the scale of doctoral students, especially the expansion of the scale of doctoral students in science and engineering, which has attracted worldwide attention." Yang Wei also pointed out that the expansion of the scale of postgraduate education was completed under the premise of attaching importance to quality. , which has injected a rising impetus for Qiushi innovation.

"The quality project of postgraduate education was launched in 2007, and the increase in the number of postgraduate admissions was prudently controlled. The annual growth rate of degree granting from 2010 to 2021 dropped by more than 10 percentage points compared with the growth rate of the previous 30 years. Promote quality monitoring and review of degrees Gradually, from a tutor licensing system reflecting the relationship between mentors and apprentices, to a tutor group licensing system including multiple graduate tutors, to a subject licensing system with blind review links embedded.”

　　Quality is the lifeline of postgraduate education, and the loss of quality will cause blood loss in postgraduate education.

In fact, with the improvement of quality as the core, the training reform of postgraduate education has been comprehensively deepened in the past 10 years.

"Since 2019, the 'Degree Squeeze' action has been carried out in depth, and quality supervision has been strengthened in all aspects throughout the entire process. Continued to carry out qualification assessment of degree sites, 103 degree authorization points will be revoked from 2014 to 2021, and 196 degree authorization points will be rectified within a time limit. The sampling inspection of large doctoral dissertations has continuously improved the quality awareness of supervisors and postgraduates." Hong Dayong said.

　　To improve the quality of postgraduate training, universities are the forefront.

At Peking University, through the solid implementation of the Strong Foundation Program, the Mathematics Talent Class, and the Physics Outstanding Talent Training Program, the "3+X" undergraduate research training program has been designed. At the end of the third year, students directly enter the postgraduate training stage.

At the same time, increase the investment of resources and strengthen the support and guarantee for basic disciplines.

At Tsinghua University, the school focuses on strengthening exchanges and cooperation with world-renowned universities in the field of engineering, and improving the ability to independently cultivate high-level talents.

In the past 10 years, Tsinghua University has cooperated with world-renowned universities to set up 25 joint training programs. Among them, 7 training programs with Yale University and other universities in the United States have been supported by the “International Cooperation and Training Program for Innovative Talents” by the China Scholarship Council.

In 2017, Tsinghua University cooperated with the three major nuclear power groups to set up the "nuclear power engineering and management international talent training" project, which has cultivated a group of outstanding engineers with global competence.

　　"The contribution to scientific research has become more prominent. Among the newly added academicians and the first recipients of the National Science and Technology Three Awards in recent years, about two-thirds of the doctorates trained by my country's self-cultivation account for about two-thirds; more than 50% of the key project members of the National Natural Science Foundation of China are postgraduate students. , more than 30% are doctoral students." Hong Dayong said.

　　Pursue excellence

　　Accelerate the construction of a first-class university system

　　"Double first-class" construction of colleges and universities is the first phalanx of China's higher education, the main force for cultivating basic research talents and a new force for scientific and technological innovation talents.

"Double first-class" construction universities undertake the training of more than 80% of the doctoral students and nearly 60% of the master's students in the country.

In the past 10 years, the system structure of postgraduate education has been further improved, aiming at the pursuit of excellence, and the construction of a first-class university system is accelerating.

　　A group of world-class scientists and leading talents have been introduced and cultivated.

The proportion of full-time faculty with doctorates has grown from 60% in 2015 to 72% in 2020.

Continue to improve the ability to attract overseas talents, and bring together a group of top international scholars.

　　The ability to support high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance has been significantly enhanced.

"Double first-class" universities have continuously made important breakthroughs in basic research original innovation, key core technology research, and serving the country's major strategic needs. A series of important achievements such as large-scale cutter suction dredging equipment.

Construction colleges and universities have won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award for three consecutive years. Among the main support units of the 23 National Science and Technology Progress Award innovation teams, 11 are from the construction colleges.

　　The leading role of the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences is more prominent.

Construction of 47 national colleges and universities for the inheritance of Chinese excellent traditional culture, and substantial progress has been made in a number of major academic research projects.

High-level foreign cooperation and exchanges have been continuously deepened, with 71 cooperative education institutions at the master and doctoral levels, 276 cooperative education projects, and dozens of international cooperation joint laboratories with foreign universities and scientific research institutions in the fields of biomedicine and environmental ecology.

　　To lead and drive the overall development of China's higher education.

The "Double First-Class" construction has led to the construction of 410 local high-level universities and 1,387 local advantageous characteristic disciplines, and a high-quality first-class university and a first-class discipline construction system are being formed.

Hong Dayong said that after unremitting efforts, the first round of "Double First-Class" construction has generally achieved the phased goal, and several universities have gradually entered the ranks of world-class universities, and several disciplines such as materials science and engineering have entered the forefront of world-class disciplines. A strong country has laid a solid foundation.

　　"Learning and reference are the only way to build a world-class university, but reflection and creation are the foundation of the first-class university." Deepen the evaluation reform, resolutely get rid of the "five only", resolutely not run schools around various popular rankings, resolutely highlight contribution, innovation, quality and effectiveness, give full play to the role of building the main force of basic research and major scientific and technological breakthroughs in colleges and universities, and focus on building independent Knowledge System.